In September 2007 the company secretary, my Moroccan researcher and I were generously welcomed and given a tour of the Rhassoul mining and primary production site.
At the Mining Site

Well off the beaten track, crossing the now desiccated Jurassic lake, herds of camels give way to goats. A Berber herder will be close by. Although the desert gives little for human subsistence, it is a retreat for a full chain of wildlife including large bright green lizards which dart under rocks faster than you can blink and the mysterious jackal who watches always from a distance.
At the primary production site

The rhassoul clay seams are found between layers of crystallized gypsum. Over the course of hundreds of thousands of years, tiny earth tremors and animal activity has caused little fragments of gypsum to migrate into the clay layer. In this photograph, the clay is about to be sieved to remove any extraneous matter.