A remote desert where people go looking for work

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Mauritania’s SNIM iron ore mining company aims to produce 13 million tonnes in 2014, around the same level as last year, the majority state-owned firm said. SNIM mines black iron ore in the northern town of Zouerate, a remote desert location in North Africa which nevertheless attracts people from all over the country looking for work.

SNIM employees proudly call their firm the lung of their nation’s economy and the train that ferries the ore to the coast stretches some two kilometres, making it one of the world’s longest.