According to a report by Moroccan Diplomatic on September 18, Morocco and China signed a memorandum of understanding to jointly develop an integrated low-carbon aluminum industrial park, with a total investment of $3 billion. The agreement was signed in Beijing by Morocco's sovereign fund, Ithmar Capital, and several Chinese central state-owned enterprises, with Chinese partners including the State Grid Corporation of China and Shanghai Electric Group. As disclosed by Africa Intelligence, private enterprise Shanghai Fanghao Industrial Group and State Power Investment Corporation played key intermediary roles in the cooperation. The latter announced earlier this year the construction of an alumina refinery in Guinea with an annual output of 1.2 million mt, which is expected to provide stable raw material supply for the Moroccan project.

The "green" core of the project lies in the construction of supporting renewable energy infrastructure, including solar power plants, wind farms, and green hydrogen power generation projects. In terms of metallurgical processes, the future plant will adopt the Hall-Héroult alumina electrolysis method, with subsequent phases potentially introducing cutting-edge technologies such as inert anodes and advanced aluminum recycling to further reduce the carbon footprint. The project site is likely to be near deep-water ports such as Tanger Med Port, Nador West Med Port, or Jorf Lasfar Port, facilitating the import of raw material alumina and the expo