Phosphates dominate the Senegalese mining industry and exports are a major foreign currency earner. After a period of declining production due to financial, supply, and production problems at the two main producers, the Government of Senegal has undertaken a program to restructure the sector. As a result, the larger mining company CSPT was merged with the chemical company ICS in 1996, and earlier this year the smaller producer, SSPT, was fully privatized and sold to the Spanish company Tolsa. ICS has ambitious plans to expand and there are numerous opportunities for U.S. heavy equipment and mining equipment producers. TDA has recently signed a grant with ICS for a feasibility study on the expansion.
Phosphates dominate the Senegalese mining industry.
Phosphate exports are a major foreign currency earner and accounted for 17 pct of total merchandise export earnings in 1997. The production of raw phosphate rock, however, has been declining in recent years due to financial and production problems at SSPT, the smaller of the two mining concerns, and reduced reserves in the CSPT mine at Taiba. Total phosphate rock production was only 1,376,800 MT in 1996, a 10.8 pct decrease from 1995. As part of its larger economic reform strategy, the GOS has undertaken moves to revitalize the phosphate mining sector. SSPT has barely operated in the past few years, producing at less than ten percent of its capacity.