Description
The Idjil salt mine is located near the present-day town of F'dérik. The fact that the salt layers begin under a top layer only 1 metre thick made it easier for the Moorish Azarzir to mine salt. The very pure rock salt is mined in the form of trapezoidal ingots weighing 20 to 40 kg and is mainly sold in Atar, Chinguetti, Ouadane, Tidjikja and Ayoûn el-Atroûs. Due to competition from sea salt, which can be produced cheaply in the Senegalese salt pans of Kaolack, the formerly sought-after Idjil rock salt was increasingly pushed out of the market. - Mauritania - 1968
