OZGEO Geological Company together with the geologists of the Moroccan company Managem completed in January 2020 an important stage of works within the framework of the project on expansion of the mineral resource base in the area of Bou-Azzer nickel and cobalt ore deposit in Morocco.

"In the 1980s and 1990s, Soviet and Russian geologists carried out exploration works at the Bu-Azzer deposit, ensuring stable operation and development of the deposit for decades to come. At present, the previously explored ore reserves are largely depleted, so it was necessary to make up for the deficit in the mining enterprise's reserves. It is important for the Moroccan economy, because the development of the mine makes a major contribution to the state budget, provides hundreds of jobs and has enabled the implementation of social development programs for many years," OZGEO officials said.

In the course of work the company's geologists performed reconnaissance routes, adapted the methodology of geochemical surveying and conducted geochemical sampling at locations with potential ore deposits. The selected hard rock samples were analyzed by their Moroccan colleagues in Managem's laboratory. Based on the results of field and laboratory tests, the companies prepared a geological report and determined the vector of further activities, including marking areas for geophysical works to study the geological structures at depth.

In addition to geological exploration at Bou-Azzer nickel and cobalt deposit, OZGEO geologists participated in exploration of Tamdrost-V large cobalt deposit and Meskala phosphate deposit with reserves of 20.3 billion m3.

As a result of the visit to Morocco, "OZGEO" has agreed to continue cooperation in the region in the following areas:

1. Carrying out remote sensing surveys using modern Russian and American technologies for precious, non-ferrous, rare, radioactive metals, rare earth elements and diamonds.

2. Carrying out further prospecting and evaluation surveys for gold, silver, copper, lead, zinc, cobalt, carbonatites (with zircon, niobium, fluorite, and barite), rare metals and platinum.

3. Forecast assessment of different areas of Morocco for energy raw materials: oil, gas, condensate, coal, oil shale and uranium based on the use of modern Russian CRS remote sensing technology.

4. analysis of archival geophysical materials of Moroccan companies in order to identify promising areas for ore minerals.

About Bou-Azzer deposit

Bou-Azzer is the only commercial cobalt deposit in Morocco and is located about 230 kilometres southeast of the city of Marrakech, near the border with Algeria.

The deposit is developed by an underground mine owned by Compagnie de Tifnout Tighanimine (CTT), a subsidiary of the Moroccan company Managem. The mine operates cobalt-rich arsenic vein ores with nickel, silver and gold by-products. The site also operates a concentrator operated by CTT Cobalt Metallurgie Bou-Azzer (CMBA). The design capacity of the plant is 18 thousand tonnes of gravity cobalt concentrate per year. The obtained products are sent for further processing to metallurgical plant Guemassa, located south-west of Marrakech.

In general, the Kingdom of Morocco has abundant mineral resources. The country has discovered and developed deposits of oil and gas, coal, bituminous shale, uranium, iron and manganese ore, cobalt, nickel, copper, gold, silver, lead and zinc, phosphorites, fluorspar and barite. Geological prospecting works on increase of stocks of hydrocarbon raw materials are actively conducted on the country's shelf. The country develops technologies for by-product extraction of uranium while developing phosphate rock and assesses the prospects for developing tin and tungsten deposits.

About OZGEO

"OZGEO" is a private Russian geological company specializing in geological prospecting on the territory of the Russian Federation and abroad. Based on the analysis of geological data, interpretation of satellite imagery, employees of the company design and perform field prospecting and exploration work in various countries. Important directions of the company's work are geological, technological and economic expertise of the mining and geological projects as well as geoecological studies.

Prospecting works are carried out using geochemical and geophysical surveying, sinking of mine workings, drilling of wells and modern methods of geological research. The company has developed its own technology of remote sensing (complex remote sensing, CRS) based on specialized processing of multispectral satellite images of the earth's surface with analysis of mining and geological data of the areas and objects under study. The tool allows identifying promising locations for field prospecting and reducing exploration costs.

Over 18 years of its existence, geologists of "OZGEO" have inspected dozens of deposits, ore occurrences and prospective areas of various size, implemented a number of projects in engineering geology and hydrogeology. The main field and expert work was carried out mainly in African countries - Angola, Algeria, Ethiopia, Guinea, Madagascar, Mauritania, Morocco, Namibia and Zimbabwe, as well as in Bolivia, Venezuela and Turkey.