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Angola Iron Ore
![[PDF]](http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/pdf.gif)
Figure 9. Economic Activity, 1988
Once one of the country's major exports, iron ore was
no longer
mined in the late 1980s because of security and
transportation
problems. From the mid-1950s until 1975, iron ore was
mined in
Malanje, Bié, Huambo, and Huíla provinces, and production
reached
an average of 5.7 million tons per year between 1970 and
1974. Most
of the iron ore was shipped to Japan, West Germany, and
Britain and
earned almost US$50 million a year in export revenue.
After
independence, the government established a state company,
the
National Iron Ore Company of Angola (Emprêsa Nacional de
Ferro de
Angola--Ferrangol), for the exploration, mining,
processing, and
marketing of iron ore. Ferrangol contracted with
Austromineral, an
Austrian company, to repair facilities and organize
production in
Cassinga. Production began to slow in 1974 as a result of
technical
problems at the Cassinga mine in Huíla Province and
stopped
completely in August 1975. The area fell under foreign
control
after South African forces invaded in 1975. Although South
Africa
withdrew its troops in early 1976, as of 1988 mining had
not
resumed in the area.
By 1988 the Cassinga mines had a production capacity of
approximately 1.1 million tons per year. However, the
railroad to
the port of Namibe (formerly Moçâmedes) needed extensive
repair,
and since it was located only 310 kilometers north of the
Namibian
border, security against South African attacks could not
be
ensured. Furthermore, UNITA was active in the area and
posed a
threat to the rail line if it were repaired. Even if these
problems
could be resolved, production of iron ore at Cassinga
would be
costly in view of the depressed state of the world steel
market in
the late 1980s.
Data as of February 1989
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