Mauritania: mining sector makes 375 mln dollars in 2011

In 2011 Mauritania\'s treasury received 375 million dollars thanks to the mining sector, 281 of which derived from iron exports. So reports said the Minister of Petroleum, Taleb Ould Abdi Vall, during a speech on state television, local media says. Vall also pointed out that thanks to the changes in the mining code (which was previously considered to present an obstacle to development), seven new leases have been issued for petroleum research, thanks to which a further 30 million dollars have been made by the state. Petroleum production is around 8/9 thousand barrels a day, from reserves which should apparently run out in 2019, whereas in 2004, when the extraction began, the expected amount had been of 75,000 barrels a day.