Article from ROAPE Volume 2 Number 2
MNCs and National Development: MIFERMA & Mauretania

MIFERMA (Societe Anonyme des Mines de Fer de Mauritanie), an iron-ore mining consortium set up by French, British, Italian and German steel capital was established when Mauretania was a source of cheap raw-materials, was being integrated through the colonial system, and through French imperialism into the world capitalist economy. As iron-ore output increased, it replaced less profitable operations in French itself causing unemployment and social dislocation. It has repatriated vast profits, failed to finance more risky mining projects, and rapidly exhausted ‘easy’ natural resources. Development of the capital mode of production has resulted in an increasingly cohesive working class, and acceleration of rural poverty. If pressures for nationalisation are successful, it is unlikely that the contradiction between a neo-colonial state and the growing consciousness of workers will be resolved. Discusses competition from US Steel, Nippon Steel, British Steel; equity-participation.