Mining & Trade News

By Tawonga Nyirenda Mayuni

Investors from Morocco have expressed interest to produce fertilizer in the country using the Tundulu rock phosphate in Phalombe.

Public Relations Officer for the Ministry of Mining Tibonge Kampondeni told Mining and Trade Review that the Ministry in conjunction with the Ministry of Agriculture and the OCP group of Morocco have plans to conduct further investigations of the rock phosphate deposits of Malawi starting with Tundulu Rock Phosphate.

“The Ministry in conjunction with the Ministry of Agriculture and the OCP Africa group has plans of conducting investigations of the rock phosphate deposits in Malawi starting with the Tundulu rock phosphate with an aim of establishing a manufacturing plant for the OCP’s Nitrogen Phosphorus, Sulfur and Boron (NPSB) fertilizer in Malawi as soon as possible,” she said

Kampondeni explained that currently the Ministry of Agriculture and the OCP group intends to start crop trials using the NPSB fertilizer which is currently manufactured outside Malawi so that it can be introduced into Malawi.

Commenting on why Malawi keeps importing fertilizer when the country has deposits that can be exploited to manufacture fertilizer, Kampondeni said that the government relies on the private sector to invest and the Ministry is ready to work with them.

Kampondeni mentioned that the data that the country has is sufficient enough to kick-start the production of fertilizer locally.

She said: “We have various agro-mineral deposits like phosphate, gypsum, vermiculite, limestone, nepheline syenites and feldspars in many parts of the country.”

“Some of these have been studied in detail, for example the Tundulu phosphate deposits in Phalome and the Mlindi Ultra-phosphate in Neno.”

Kampondeni also said the government of Malawi is currently intensifying exploration to identify additional deposits of agro-minerals and estimate the quantity of the resources.

However, Kampondeni said that funding challenges are negatively affecting exploration activities such that the Ministry is working on mobilizing funding from development partners and research funding schemes.

“For example, the Ministry and the University of Kyoto in Japan have submitted a project concept entitled ‘Integrated use of agro-minerals, dry excreta and drone technologies in soil remineralization for crop production and climate smart agriculture in Malawi’ to the Japanese government under the Science and Technology Research Partnership for Sustainable Development (SATREPS) funding scheme,” she said.

Meanwhile, the Malawi government has put in place some incentives for attracting investors in agro minerals for local fertilizer production.

Kampomdeni explained that the incentives for large scale investors include; 100% capital allowance, duty free importation of equipment, Zero input VAT, accelerated depreciation because if the value capital remains high it reduces the income, loss carry-over for 10 years, and provision of concessions on consumables that are directly inputting into the production like chemicals and reagents.

OCP Africa is a subsidiary of OCP group, a leading producer of phosphoric acid and fertilizer. The group has been in the industry for over 100 years. The headquarters of OCP Africa is in Casablanca, Morocco.

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