Metlaoui, Tunisia. The Kef Eddour mine, opened in 1985, is currently one of the biggest open air phosphate rocks’ mines in the Gafsa mining basin in Southern Tunisia. Tonnes of waste are piling up around the mine, changing the landscape.
How the EU growing fertilisers market is drying up Southern Tunisia
Phosphate rocks are the main source of phosphorus - a finite, fundamental element, largely employed in fertilisers production. Ninety percent of phosphate rocks on earth are located in just a handful of countries, among them Tunisia. In search for alternatives to Russian phosphates (also a major exporter), the EU started looking South.
But phosphate extraction comes at a high price. In the Gafsa basin, where Tunisian phosphates come from, farmers lack water for their fields, as this scarce resource is diverted to mines. Herders lose camels and sheep due to contaminated water that pollutes the rivers. Cancer rate in the area is higher than elsewhere in Tunisia, as local communities breathe phosphate’s dust from the nearby deposits and mines.
Mining in Gafsa started at the end of the 19th century, under French colonialism. A century later, the exploitation and depletion of a land that would otherwise be one of the richest in Tunisia, continues in ways that are different only on the surface.
An investigation by Arianna Poletti, Sofian Philip Naceur, and daniela Sala, supported by the Journalismfund Europ
Moulares, Tunisia. A truck transports phosphate rocks from Moulares to Gafsa and from there to Gabes, on the coast, to be refined or exported as raw materials.
Redeyef, Tunisia. Mouaid Ben Hmida (14 years old) poses for a portrait at home. He has had asthma since the age of two. The doctor advised the family to move away, to avoid Mouaid being exposed constantly to phosphate dust resulting from mining activities around the house, but they cannot due to multiple restraints.
Redeyef, Tunisia. Mouaid Ben Hmida (14 years old) shows his asthma inhaler.
Al-Berka, Tunisia. Taoufik Aid peeks through the gate of the school where he worked as a director between 2005 and 2014, until the school was closed due to the lack of students.
Gafsa, Tunisia.The open air Roman pool in Gafsa (which dates back to the 2nd century BC) is usually filled with water originating in hot springs. But due to intense mining activities and water scarcity, the pool is now empty for most of the year.
Metlaoui, Tunisia. Mud piled up next to the water stream running through Thelja canyon, downstream from the Kef Eddour laverie. The stream is highly polluted by waste water from phosphate mining activities.
Mdhila, Tunisia. A camel lies sick in the sand. The owner, Lofti, explains the camel went grazing next to the nearby dam where Metlaoui's laverie wastewater is collected, and it got sick after drinking the polluted water.
Redeyef, Tunisia. In the center of Redeyf, a mining town of around 37,000 inhabitants, a monument celebrates the phosphate railway, a relic of the French colonial era.
Redeyef, Tunisia. Mohamed Sakend (29 years old) looks for fossils inside an old phosphate underground mine, locally known as “the Portal”, in the outskirts of Redeyef. Sakend is a self-educated geologist, who, like most of the local youth, loves his hometown but struggles with unemployment.