
A passenger waits after his train arrived in Nouadhibou, Mauritania’s second largest city and the main export port for the country’s iron ore industry.

The mining company’s 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.

SNIM mines black iron ore in the northern town of Zouerate, a remote desert location which nevertheless attracts people from all over the country looking for work. The industry forms a key part of the county’s economy, providing the government with some twenty percent of their annual budget.