Ahouli (or Aouli) is an abandoned mining village in central Morocco. Once one of the most important

lead Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...

deposits in Morocco, the nearby Ahouli and

Mibladen Mibladen is a commune in Midelt Province of the Drâa-Tafilalet administrative region of Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Medite ...

mines are now abandoned. It is located on a valley along upper Moulouya river, about 25 kilometers north from

Midelt Midelt (Berber language: ⵎⵉⴷⴻⵍⵜ, Arabic: ميدلت) is a town in Morocco, in the high plains between the Middle Atlas and High Atlas mountain ranges. With a population of 55,304 recorded in the 2014 Moroccan census, Midelt serves as t ...

. For more than ten years, thousands of illegal miners risked their lives in its galleries daily. The French company Penarroya operated the sites from 1928 to the 1960s, employing hundreds of Moroccan workers and producing tens of thousands of tons of lead annually, most of which was exported to France.

References

{{Reflist Populated places in Midelt Province