Akashat

Akashat is a small town in the northwest of Al Anbar province of Iraq, with a population of around 5,000. It was built as an industrial village in 1985, attached to the local phosphate quarry and administered by the ministry of industry. The Phosphate Plant in the town employs roughly 50-60 permanent workers. Production there was seriously disrupted by the UN sanctions after 1991 and the 2003 war essentially stopped it from working. It is now operating at around 10%. It is the terminus of a branchline of the national railway system. It serves a phosphate mine. The railroad tracks stretch all the way east to Hadithah where they connect in the south to the Persian Gulf and northward eventually to Europe. The phosphate quarry sporadically...