The Tunisian Economics’ Situations After the Revolution of Arab Spring 2011

The Tunisian economic facts after the so-called the Arab spring or social revolution have been marketed by numerous fluctuations and radical changes in the general situation of the management of the administrative affairs of the country. The most prominent of these facts, including the series of chaotic sit-ins and the political and security instability that has increased from 2011 to 2018, note in particular the emergence of the phenomenon of terrorism and assassinations. These negative results are too the expensive cost of the Tunisian national economy, which has been directed, affected by all vital sectors of the country’s economy, especially the tourism, trade and investment sectors. In addition, the increase in excessive wages during the first three years following the revolution and the increasing number of random sit-ins that led to the cessation of the production in the Gafsa phosphate mine and the failure to work for most of the public servants represented negative factors that led to a decline in productivity and an increase in the financial and trade deficit. Thus, the budget deficit and the accumulation of indebtedness represent the main obstacle to achieving social and economic stability.

The Tunisian Economics’ Situations After the Revolution of Arab Spring 2011

The Tunisian economic facts after the so-called the Arab spring or social revolution have been marketed by numerous fluctuations and radical changes in the general situation of the management of the administrative affairs of the country. The most prominent of these facts, including the series of chaotic sit-ins and the political and security instability that has increased from 2011 to 2018, note in particular the emergence of the phenomenon of terrorism and assassinations. These negative results are too the expensive cost of the Tunisian national economy, which has been directed, affected by all vital sectors of the country’s economy, especially the tourism, trade and investment sectors. In addition, the increase in excessive wages during the first three years following the revolution and the increasing number of random sit-ins that led to the cessation of the production in the Gafsa phosphate mine and the failure to work for most of the public servants represented negative factors that led to a decline in productivity and an increase in the financial and trade deficit. Thus, the budget deficit and the accumulation of indebtedness represent the main obstacle to achieving social and economic stability.

The Tunisian Economics’ Situations after the Revolution of Arab Spring 2011

The Tunisian economic facts after the so-called the Arab spring or social revolution have been marketed by numerous fluctuations and radical changes in the general situation of the management of the administrative affairs of the country. The most prominent of these facts, including the series of chaotic sit-ins and the political and security instability that has increased from 2011 to 2018, note in particular the emergence of the phenomenon of terrorism and assassinations. These negative results are too the expensive cost of the Tunisian national economy, which has been directed, affected by all vital sectors of the country’s economy, especially the tourism, trade and investment sectors. In addition, the increase in excessive wages during the first three years following the revolution and the increasing number of random sit-ins that led to the cessation of the production in the Gafsa phosphate mine and the failure to work for most of the public servants represented negative factors that led to a decline in productivity and an increase in the financial and trade deficit. Thus, the budget deficit and the accumulation of indebtedness represent the main obstacle to achieving social and economic stability.

Assessment of Groundwater Quality in Areas Surrounding Thundulu Phosphate Mine, Phalombe District, Malawi

Water is one of the renewable resources essential for sustaining all forms of life and quality of drinking water is very fundamental for human health. Human activities such as mining act as sources of water contamination which consequently lead to ecological, environmental and health problems. To the best of our knowledge, no study has been conducted around the Thundulu Phosphate Mine to establish the quality of drinking water. In this regard, this study was carried out to evaluate the physico-chemical water quality parameters of areas surrounding the Thundulu Phosphate Mine in Phalombe District. Groundwater samples from the villages surrounding the Phosphate Mine were collected both during the wet and dry seasons for analysis of physico-chemical water quality parameters (pH, electrical conductivity, turbidity, nitrate, chloride, sulphate, fluoride, iron, calcium and magnesium). The study also investigated microbiological water characteristics mainly Escherichia coli and faecal coliforms. Results showed that pH, electrical conductivity, turbidity, nitrate, chloride, sulphate, phosphate, calcium and magnesium complied with the national and international standards set by Malawi Bureau of Standards (MBS) and World Health Organization (WHO). As regards to microbiological characteristics, it was revealed that water from three sources (B2, B3 and B4) was contaminated with Escherichia coli and faecal coliforms. Keywords: Physico-chemical; Groundwater; Phalombe; Borehole; Electrical Conductivity; Turbidity; Phosphate;

Description of Microbial Communities of Phosphate Mine Wastes in Morocco, a Semi-Arid Climate, Using High-Throughput Sequencing and Functional Prediction

Soil microbiota are vital for successful revegetation, as they play a critical role in nutrient cycles, soil functions, and plant growth and health. A rehabilitation scenario of the abandoned Kettara mine (Morocco) includes covering acidic tailings with alkaline phosphate mine wastes to limit water infiltration and hence acid mine drainage. Revegetation of phosphate wastes is the final step to this rehabilitation plan. However, revegetation is hard on this type of waste in semi-arid areas and only a few plants managed to grow naturally after 5 years on the store-and-release cover. As we know that belowground biodiversity is a key component for aboveground functioning, we sought to know if any structural problem in phosphate waste communities could explain the almost absence of plants. To test this hypothesis, bacterial and archaeal communities present in these wastes were assessed by 16S rRNA metabarcoding. Exploration of taxonomic composition revealed a quite diversified community assigned to 19 Bacterial and two Archaeal phyla, similar to other studies, that do not appear to raise any particular issues of structural problems. The dominant sequences belonged to Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Actinobacteria, and Gemmatimonadetes and to the genera Massilia, Sphingomonas, and Adhaeribacter. LEfSe analysis identified 19 key genera, and metagenomic functional prediction revealed a broader phylogenetic range of taxa than expected, with all identified genera possessing at least one plant growth-promoting trait. Around 47% of the sequences were also related to genera possessing strains that facilitate plant development under biotic and environmental stress conditions, such as drought and heat.

16S Metagenomics investigation of Bacterial diversity and prediction of its functionalities in Moroccan phosphate mine ecosystem.

Background Native plants in extreme environments may harbor some unique microbial communities with particular functions to sustain their growth and tolerance to harsh conditions. The aim of this study was to investigate the bacterial communities profiles in the Moroccan phosphate mine using 16S metagenomics sequencing. Taxonomic resolution of six hypervariable regions of the 16S rRNA was assessed in the collected samples and mock standard community. The bacterial functions enriched in the samples were also predicted to assess the contribution of the proposed low cost approach in the description of bacterial diversity and functionality in soil and plant. Methods The Ion 16S™ metagenomics kit was used to compare the discriminatory potential of the six targeted hypervariable regions of the 16S rRNA gene in the description of the bacterial communities. Alpha and beta diversity analysis were also performed accordingly in the studied samples. The later were collected from the bulk phosphate mine and the soils attached to roots of three different wild plants, that natively grow in this environment. Samples from the rhizosphere of wheat plants in cropping system were also studied. Actinobacteria related sequences were compared between the samples to investigate their possible origin between the bulk mine and the wild plants rhizosphere. The prediction of 82 bacterial functions related to nitrogen and phosphate metabolism along with stress was performed using Tax4fun bioinformatics tool. Results The rhizosphere of the three wild plants in the Moroccan phosphate mine is characterized by interesting bacterial diversity including Proteobacteria (62,24%, 71,15% and 65,61%), Actinobacteria (22,53%, 15,24%, 22,30%), Bacteroidetes (7,57% ; 4,23% ; 7,63%), and Firmicutes (5,82%; 1,17% ; 2,83%). Broad taxonomic diversity of minor phyla was also found in the native plants samples and included Acidobacteria, Armatimonadetes, Chloroflexi, Cyanobacteria, Gemmatimonadetes and Verrucomicrobia. The bulk phosphate mine samples were dominated by Actinobacteria with average relative abundance of 97,73% and Proteobacteria was Less abundant phylum in these samples. V3, V4 and V67 regions performed better in the taxonomic resolution at different levels e.g., phylum, family and genus. However, V8 and V9 regions gave the lesser taxonomic resolution and V9 region identified only Proteobacteria phylum in the mock standard sample. Alpha and beta diversity analysis indicated low abundance of observed OTUs and diversity in the bulk samples compared with the rhizosphere samples of the native plants in the phosphate mine. Moreover, significant (p = 0,021) differences in bacterial diversity were observed among at least three kind of samples : The bulk phosphate mine, the rhizosphere of the native wild plants of the phosphate mine and the rhizosphere of the wheat crop. The results indicated that both plant genotype and mainly soil conditions may be involved in the shaping of bacterial diversity. Such indication was also confirmed by the prediction of functional profiles that showed enrichment of many functions related to biological nitrogen fixation in the rhizosphere of native plants and the stress related functions in the bulk phosphate mine in comparison with the wheat rhizosphere samples Conclusion The proposed amplicon sequencing approach combined to bioinformatic prediction of bacterial functions could be considered as low-cost method to study the bacterial communities in soils and plants. The application of such approach to samples from the phosphate mines and wild plants revealed the need to consider at least V3, V4 and V6-7 hypervariable regions of the 16S rRNA gene in the taxonomic resolution of bacterial diversity in soil samples. This approach revealed also interesting bacterial diversity governed by the plant genotypes and the local conditions with interesting predicted functionalities involved in plant growth and development and stress tolerance in extreme environments. Further studies could target some interesting identified phyla and predicted bacterial functionalities, such studies could also deeply investigate the origin of the bacterial diversity in these native plants to develop new generation of bacterial inoculants for sustainable agriculture.

Similar Physical Modeling of Roof Stress and Subsidence in Room and Pillar Mining of a Gently Inclined Medium-Thick Phosphate Rock

Gently inclined medium-thick orebodies are generally recognized as the most difficult type of orebody to mine, using current available strategies (i.e., the room and pillar method). In the present study, a similar physical model was used to investigate the roof stress and subsidence for mining gently inclined medium-thick phosphate rock from the Jinning Phosphate Mine, Yunnan Province, China. The stress field, displacement field, and roof failure evolution characteristics of the surrounding rock with stope structures of 3 m, 5 m, or 8 m ore pillars were considered. The results showed that, after mining stopped, obvious pressure relief areas formed above the three stope structures, and pressure-bearing areas formed at the front of the roof. With extending the mining in the working face, the stress relief boundary also gradually increased, and the top of the roof tended to sink with a maximum subsidence of –14.58 mm, –4.67 mm, and –3.48 mm. Due to the mining activity, the overlying strata bent and subsided from top to bottom, creating bending subsidence, fracture, and caving zones.

Application of multivariate geostatistical simulation and fractal analysis for detection of rare earth elements (REEs) geochemical anomalies in Esfordi phosphate mine, Central Iran

The present study was conducted to determine different geochemical anomalies of rare earth elements (REEs) using a combined approach of stepwise factor analysis (SFA), sequential Gaussian simulation (SGS) ,and concentration-area (C-A) fractal modeling based on surface lithogeochemical samples obtained from the Esfordi phosphate mine (Central Iran). The Esfordi mine is one of the important mines in Bafq metallogenic zone due to average and maximum grade of 0.5 and 1.7%, respectively for REEs. According to SFA operation in two steps, the REEs were placed in the first factor of the second stage (F1-2). Then, the SGS method and C-A fractal modeling were performed on F1-2 factor scores for classification of anomalies. Log-ratio matrix was used to evaluate the correlation of these results with anomalous lithogeochemical samples, as well as to determine the relationship of anomalies with rock types and mineralized units and finally, to validate the results of SGS-fractal modeling. The results confirmed an appropriate correlation between F1-2 anomalies and high-concentration in further rock samples. The main anomalies were found to have good correlation with apatite-iron unit and in general with other apatite-bearing units based on overall accuracy values. The apatite-bearing units with high values of REEs were located in northern and central parts of the mine. The results of combined approach of SFA, SGS, and C-A fractal modeling showed that this hybrid approach can be useful in determining anomalies with proper accuracy.