The MIFERMA Class CC 01-21 diesel locomotives were built by Alsthom in France between 1961 and 1965.

The locomotives had been commissioned by the Sociéte Anonyme des Mines de Fer de Mauritanie (MIFERMA), then the owner of the Mauritania Railway, which, since its completion in 1963, has connected the iron ore mine in Zouerate with the port of Nouadhibou, Mauritania.

[1] They were also equipped with a roof mounted "skyline casing", which housed special filtration equipment, to deal with the unusually sandy and dusty Saharan atmospheric conditions.

Thereafter, the Mauritania Railway and its locomotives were owned and operated by the parastatal Société Nationale Industrielle et Minière (SNIM).

Beginning in 1981, the CC Class 01-21s were supplemented by US built EMD SDL40-2s.