I'm not a mining engineer but...
AFAIK these Akjoujt mines ( still extant) are simple, open cast 'surface scraping/blasting' operations, no?
Same in much of the Sahara like Arlit and Zouerat and Bou Craa and all the salt mines.
It's the whole point. Out there you don't need to dig down with the time, expense and danger, you just keep looking on the surface. Something economically viable will eventually turn up on the desert floor, especially with cheap local labour.
I could be wrong but I have to say I find this talk of tunnels (we heard it before in 2003) and kidnapping tunnel execs a bit on the far side. Choum railway tunnel (the only one in the country?) was, I suspect, a joke...
Funnily enough only the other day I passed on here how many tedious checkpoints there now were on this very road. Clearly not enough.
Anyway, I hope it ends well for the 3 Spanish - and the French guy too.
Ch
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