Initiated by the Office Chérifien des Phosphates (OCP) group, these flagship projects constitute a new illustration of the Sovereign's desire to support the group's innovation and industrial development initiatives, its ecosystem and its African partners, to accompany its industrial strategy and, thus, to consolidate the Kingdom of Morocco's leadership in the global phosphate market.
A true technological revolution, the Khouribga-Jorf Lasfar Slurry pipeline system (4.5 billion dirhams) is revolutionising the transport of phosphates and profoundly transforming the Group's industrial value chain, by evolving phosphate transport into a fully integrated mode between the Khouribga mining site and the Jorf Lasfar industrial site.
38 million tonnes of phosphate will thus be transported to the processing units in Jorf Lasfar. This integration from the upstream to the downstream of the value chain makes it possible to support the doubling of the mine's capacities and will ensure a great improvement in the flexibility of the production and logistics chain, while reducing the cost of phosphate delivered to Jorf Lasfar by 45 per cent.
This process will generate savings of nearly 3 million m3 of water annually due to the preservation of the rock's natural moisture. The Slurry Pipeline will also have a positive impact on the carbon footprint by reducing CO2 emissions by 930 Kt/year and will allow fuel savings of 160,000 tonnes per year.
The pipeline's terminal station is mainly intended to receive and store the transported phosphate pulp to then ensure its distribution and the supply of all the processing units of the Jorf Lasfar Hub and the filtration/drying unit for phosphates intended for export.
It consists of a so-called shock station to reduce the pressure of the pulp upon arrival, eight pulp reception and storage tanks of 5,500 m3 each and a pulp distribution network supplying the Jorf Lasfar industrial platform. Spanning a total area of 6 hectares, the terminal station required nearly 800 million dirhams of investment and generated 530,000 man-days in employment during the project phase.
In parallel with the construction of this slurry pipeline, the OCP Group has built a new phosphoric acid production plant supplied by the pulp coming from the terminal station.
With an annual capacity of 450,000 tonnes of phosphoric acid, this plant allows, on the one hand, an increase in acid production capacity and ensures, on the other hand, greater production flexibility and a clear improvement in yields.
The new plant, which required an investment of 700 million DH, is composed of a pulp storage tank, several pulp thickening units, a reactor and four digesters, as well as gas cooling and scrubbing units.
The OCP Industrial Skills Centre in Jorf Lasfar is in line with the vision of H.M. the King, may God assist Him, focused on the valorisation of the nation's intangible capital. This Centre will offer training for the benefit of OCP employees and new recruits, but also for subcontractors and industrialists of the Jorf Lasfar complex, particularly in the fields of mechanics, electrotechnics and phosphoric processes.
With a capacity to accommodate 1,200 learners per year, the Skills Centre, equipped with state-of-the-art technology (simulators, e-learning, equipped workshops, test benches, etc.), meets the best international standards in terms of industrial training.
This centre is one of the five OCP Group establishments dedicated to continuing education, an essential component for the development of the level of expertise and the culture of performance, essential for supporting the Group's transformation and the development of its industrial ecosystem.
This policy of valuing skills is also being deployed on the African continent with a constant concern for sharing knowledge and transferring know-how, in accordance with the major South-South partnership project advocated by H.M. the King.
These world-class infrastructures confirm Morocco's intelligent and serene vision and place the national economy within the global flows of emerging economies, despite an international context marked by uncertainty. They allow Morocco to establish intelligent leadership in the global market for phosphates and derived products, based certainly on productivity and profitability parameters, but above all on the valorisation of intangible capital and the creation of added value.
