Société de Mokta el Hadid
View of the mines in June 1865
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| Industry | Mining |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1863 |
| Founder | Paulin Talabot |
| Defunct | October 1970 |
| Headquarters | Algeria |
| Products | Iron ore |
The Société Mokta El Hadid was an iron ore mining company in Algeria, and later in other West African countries. From around 1865 until 1927 it was the largest mining company in Algeria, delivering ore of exceptional quality for processing in France. In 1878 the original Mokta El Hadid mine near Bône (now Annaba) was said to be capable of supporting 25% of Europe's steel production. Before this mine was exhausted the company opened additional mines in Algeria. Later it extended its operations to countries such as Tunisia, Morocco, Niger, Côte-d'Ivoire and Madagascar, and mined manganese, chromium and uranium. In October 1970 the Société le Nickel, soon to become the Imétal holding company, took over the Mokta company. The company was later renamed Compagnie française de Mokta (CFM), specializing in uranium mining.
The mine is about 22 miles (35 km) from the port of Bône in the Mokta hill beside at the foot of a mountain chain that runs from south to north, then turns east to Bône. The name "Mokta-el-Hadid" (the iron pass) indicates that the presence of iron has long been known, but there is no sign that it was worked before the first small-scale attempts in 1840. The geologist Henri Fournel discovered the deposits of magnetite in 1843.
The businessman Paulin Talabot had a "Mediterranean dream" involving "the exploitation of the mines of the Bône region, which would feed his coal mines in the Grand-Combe by means of rapid transport in his ships of the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique, relayed by his Algerian railroad cars and those of the PLM." Before Fournel's survey was complete, in 1845 the Talabots or their associates had obtained three of the four concessions in the Bône region. Algeria in the 19th century did not have coking coal, so did not process its iron ore. Instead, the ore was shipped to the coast and sold to a shipper, who in turn sold it to European steel mills for about twice the price. Talabot thought of building an ironworks at Bône, but abandoned the idea in 1848 part due to the danger of attack by the Algerians and in part to a threatened boycott of Algerian iron ore by the Schneiders of Le Creusot.
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