Bou Craa

26.3229 - 12.8496Koordinaten: 26 ° 19 ' N, 12 ° 51 ' W

Bou Craa, (also: Bu Craa, Boukraa ), Arabic أبوكراع, DMG Abū ʿ KRA with the meaning father of the foot, is a mining town with 2519 inhabitants ( 2004) in the northern part of Western Sahara. In the province of El Aaiun belonging to the village is the world's largest deposit of phosphate.

Bou Craa is located 100 kilometers southeast of El Aaiun. Economically dominated in place of phosphate mining. The phosphate is transported to the coast of the Atlantic about the world's longest conveyor belt about 100 km to El Aaiun.

The phosphate deposits of the region were accidentally discovered in 1947 when the Spanish geologist Manuel Alia Medina auswertete rock samples to date the age of Hammada formations. After he had a 27 -percent phosphate content found he was commissioned to further investigation. In an established in El Aaiun laboratory he analyzed samples with 50-60 percent phosphate, a rewarding for the dismantling content. In 1962, the company Empresa Nacional Minera del Sáhara SA ( ENMINSA ) was established, which estimated the phosphate deposits of Bou Craa up to 2,000 million tonnes within an area of 1200 square kilometers. For the entire region five times the amount was estimated.

End of 1972, the now- operating with the participation of American, French and German companies, the group employed 1272 workers. In the village lived 500 inhabitants. The production was in 1972 with the commissioning of modern plants 2 to 3 million tons per year.

How much of the Western Sahara is occupied also Bou Craa of Morocco. During the military phase of the conflict in Western Sahara since 1976, the conveyor belt was frequently attacked by troops of the Saharawi Liberation Organization POLISARIO.

In Bou Craa there is a mosque, a shop and an administration building.