Midelt

Midelt belongs to the Draa-Tafilalet region¹ and is the capital of the province of the same name.² At the 2024 census the municipality had 62,648 inhabitants in 16,225 households and the province 313,769.³

The town stands at around 1,500 metres on a plateau where the Middle and High Atlas meet.⁴ The plateau surrounds the Moulouya river; the main road linking Fez and Meknes in the north with Errachidia in the south runs through Midelt.⁵

Before the protectorate period the place was a cluster of ksour called Aoutat n-Ayt Izdeg; the name Midelt derives from the word timidelt (dish cover), the name of a nearby hill. In the first half of the 20th century the town grew around an administrative post that served mainly the mining in the surrounding area.⁶

The former lead mines of Aouli and Mibladen lie in the Moulouya valley in the Midelt area.⁷ The Aouli lead and zinc deposit was discovered in 1923; its exploitation brought railway lines and, in 1928, one of Morocco’s first power stations.⁸ The Société des Mines d’Aouli was founded in 1926; after a slow start, output grew from 1936 and reached almost 10,000 tonnes of ore in 1939. Production stopped in 1974, after which the Bureau de recherches et de participations minières (BRPM) ran the operation until 1983.⁹ That year Aouli and Mibladen were closed.¹⁰

Today miners working on their own search the old tunnels for minerals for collectors.¹¹ The area is known above all for vanadinite, a blood-red, lustrous mineral that the Aouli miners found while extracting lead ore; the most spectacular specimens in the world come from Mibladen and Aouli.¹² The crystals are sold in many of the town’s shops.¹³

Midelt is also known for its apples.¹⁴ At the request of the Midelt apple growers’ association, the Ministry of Agriculture recognised the protected geographical indication “Pomme de Midelt” on 17 October 2013. It applies to 16 rural municipalities of the province, among them Aït Izdeg, Aït Ayach, Mibladen, Boumia, Tounfite and Imilchil, and only to the Golden Delicious, Starking Delicious and Starkrimson varieties.¹⁵ An apple weighs 110 to 180 grams; it is picked by hand from early September to mid-October, first the Starkrimson, then the Starking and finally the Golden Delicious.¹⁶

The Midelt weather station lies at 1,508 metres. Over the years 1991 to 2020 it recorded an average of 186 millimetres of precipitation a year, spread over all months; the mean daily maximum temperature ranged from 12.6 °C in January to 34.1 °C in July, and the mean minimum in January was 0.9 °C.¹⁷