Geological data, financing, technology transfer: the three bottlenecks holding back Morocco’s mining sector

Key points:

• Morocco’s mineral wealth makes it one of the most attractive mining countries, but structural bottlenecks still hamper its rise as a mining power.
• Developing a mining project takes 15 to 20 years, in a sector where local financing remains limited and investment risk is high.
• Geological data and artificial intelligence are emerging as the sector’s new drivers of competitiveness.
• The link between upstream mining and downstream industry remains to be built, particularly in copper, cobalt, lead and zinc.

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The details:

More than ever, the mining sector is being called upon to move into a higher gear and serve as a foundation for the development of Morocco’s industrial base, particularly in areas linked to the energy transition.

Among these sectors, the battery industry is expected to gain fresh momentum with the commissioning, in August 2026, of Africa’s first gigafactory, operated by Gotion in Kenitra. In an initial phase, this ecosystem will have to rely on imported raw materials.

Although several projects have already been launched to bring mining production closer to industrial segments, the sustainability and competitiveness of these value chains require the genuine development of Morocco’s mining sector, in order to reduce our dependence on imports as much as possible.

In previous articles, we have shown, objectively, that Morocco’s subsoil holds the potential for at least nine additional critical metals.

But beyond this potential, a set of levers has now become essential to lift the sector to the level of ambition sought.

Long timelines and scarce capital: mining’s difficult equation

From the first signs of mineralization to the actual opening of a mine, developing a project can take 15 to 20 years. Added to this time constraint is currently limited local financing, in a sector where risk is high.

While large companies are able to mobilize the necessary financial resources, small and medium-sized operators move at a much slower pace. Lacking the means to move faster, they often find themselves forced either to seek a foreign financial partner to accelerate their work, or to sell their resources at sharply undervalued prices.

Such partnerships have nevertheless led to notable discoveries, the most recent involving chromium and titanium, two metals that had never previously been produced in Morocco.

The case of the British company Emmerson, currently in proceedings before ICSID, illustrates the limits of this model. The company, which is now claiming one billion dollars in compensation, was not behind the potash discovery, since the permit had initially been developed and then transferred by a Moroccan company.

This example highlights a worrying reality. Moroccan expertise is undeniable, but without suitable financing, a mining opportunity can easily fall into the hands of a foreign operator, depriving the country of part of the value created.

Data and AI: the two keys to mining competitiveness

What can reduce investment risk in the mining sector is, above all, data and its optimal use. In its latest report, the Fraser Institute ranked Morocco 15th worldwide in terms of mining attractiveness, while pointing to persistent concerns over the quality and availability of geological databases.

Mining and geological data had until now been seen as opaque and difficult to access. With the launch of the digital mining cadastre, the Ministry of Energy Transition has turned an important page by removing a significant part of this obstacle.

This first version, however, is only a starting point. It will need to be consolidated to make Morocco’s cadastre one of the most transparent and investment-friendly systems in the world. National expertise and the diversity of the subsoil are already there; what is needed now is consistency and determination in implementation.

The results of previous exploration work, particularly those produced by mining companies, would benefit from being added to the cadastre and made available to explorers, even on a paid basis. This would save the sector considerable time and capital.

This sharing of data can, on its own, pave the way for major discoveries. The example of Boumadine illustrates this. This perimeter, already explored in the past, yielded a major deposit for Aya Gold & Silver, simply because the company was willing to look where others had given up.

For mining development companies, and especially Moroccan operators, having data is important, but knowing how to use it is even more important. The recent rise of artificial intelligence opens promising prospects in this regard, making it possible to optimize both mining development timelines and costs.

A recent example bears this out. Aterian, a British junior mining company listed in London, has entered into a partnership with the French startup Lithosquare, which has just raised 25 million dollars to accelerate the discovery of critical metals through artificial intelligence. This fundraising confirms growing interest in this tool, now seen as a lever for optimizing and reducing mining investment risk, without making traditional exploration methods obsolete.

Mining and industry: a convergence still to be built

One of the main shortcomings of Morocco’s mining sector lies in the absence of a genuine link between upstream mining and downstream industry. Copper is the most telling example in this regard. Morocco has several copper mines, but their output is entirely sold as concentrate, a product that cannot be used as such by industry.

Managem is developing a copper smelter project in this respect. But behind this type of project, the main cost item is neither buildings nor machinery, but technology transfer. For a product resulting from this transformation to be marketed to industrial users, it must be certified, with any failure proving prohibitive for downstream users.

The same technological barrier explains why Morocco, despite confirmed rare earth resources, struggles to add value to them. Extracting these metals is a complex and costly process, particularly in its downstream phase, which involves isolating around fifteen elements with almost identical chemical behaviors. This operation has nothing in common with conventional mineral processing chains.

This patented expertise remains concentrated in the hands of a very limited number of players, foremost among them China, the world’s leading producer of rare earths, and the United States. Without access to these technologies, Morocco would be confined to the role of exporter of raw concentrates, condemned to let most of the added value slip away.

Another underused lever is the recovery of metals contained in electronic waste, end-of-life vehicles, dismantled infrastructure and industrial scrap. Covered in a recent study by the Economic, Social and Environmental Council (CESE), this segment could offer four major benefits: reducing dependence on imports, smoothing price volatility, creating skilled jobs and bringing the sector into a circular economy logic.

But here again, moving from diagnosis to action runs up against the issue of technology transfer. Expertise in metal recycling is concentrated in a handful of countries, with China once again standing as the global innovation leader in this field.

Despite these structural constraints, Morocco’s mining sector has managed to take advantage of the favorable global environment for critical metals. It has attracted a significant volume of foreign investment and confirmed its place among Africa’s leading producers. Morocco is today Africa’s leading producer of silver, barite and bentonite, the continent’s third-largest producer of cobalt, behind the Democratic Republic of Congo and Madagascar, and also ranks in Africa’s top five for copper, lead and zinc.

The sector is now awaiting a structural reform that would open the way to a new phase of development. But the challenges identified cannot be addressed in isolation. They call for broad consultation among all stakeholders, leading to a clear roadmap capable of defining the contours of Morocco’s mining future.