Algeria has approved 140 applications by local and international companies bidding for 31 mining licences covering six sites, according to the country’s top mining authority.

The National Agency for Mining Activities, an affiliate of the Energy Ministry, said it had received 165 applications in response to an international auction for the sites.

“We are offering 31 licenses covering six mining sites in various provinces of Algeria,” the Agency’s Chairman Murad Hanafi told local reporters on Monday.

The new permits are for the exploration and production of several minerals, including barite, sand, yellow sand (tuff) and limestone, he added.

(Writing by Nadim Kawach; Editing by Anoop Menon)

(anoop.menon@lseg.com)

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