Afghan minerals may be worth 3 trillion dollars
KABUL:
Mineral deposits in Afghan-istan could be worth up to three trillion dollars, Afghanistan’s mining minister Waheedullah Shahrani said on Thursday, tripling a US estimate from earlier this week.
The results of the US geological survey released this week by American officials said Afghanistan had huge reserves of lithium, iron, copper, gold, niobium, mercury, cobalt and other minerals worth nearly one trillion dollars.
“A very conservative estimate has been one trillion. Our estimation is more than that... the idea is it could be up to three trillion dollars,” Shahrani told a news conference.
When asked what his estimate was based on, the minister said: “The visibility of the minerals”.
There are also bigger than expected reserves of oil and gas, mostly in northern Afghanistan and one of the deposits in Kunduz province would be offered for exploration next year, Shahrani said.
“The new findings show that there are five new oil and gas blocks in Afghanistan. The biggest of them is the Afghan-Tajik basin in the province of Kunduz. We’ll put this up for tender next year,” he said.
The US survey found Afghanistan’s potential lithium deposits are as large of those of Bolivia, which has the world’s largest known reserves of the lightweight metal, used to make batteries for mobile phones and laptops.
However, acknowledging the fragile situation in Afghanistan, Shahrani said: “Developing mines will take a long time,” adding that Afghanistan lacks the basic infrastructure for major mining investments.
The US also said it could take years to develop the industry, and acknowledged that Afghanistan, widely considered one of the most corrupt countries in the world, would be challenged to ensure profits did not enrich only a few.
Published in the Express Tribune, June 18th, 2010.
Mineral deposits in Afghan-istan could be worth up to three trillion dollars, Afghanistan’s mining minister Waheedullah Shahrani said on Thursday, tripling a US estimate from earlier this week.
The results of the US geological survey released this week by American officials said Afghanistan had huge reserves of lithium, iron, copper, gold, niobium, mercury, cobalt and other minerals worth nearly one trillion dollars.
“A very conservative estimate has been one trillion. Our estimation is more than that... the idea is it could be up to three trillion dollars,” Shahrani told a news conference.
When asked what his estimate was based on, the minister said: “The visibility of the minerals”.
There are also bigger than expected reserves of oil and gas, mostly in northern Afghanistan and one of the deposits in Kunduz province would be offered for exploration next year, Shahrani said.
“The new findings show that there are five new oil and gas blocks in Afghanistan. The biggest of them is the Afghan-Tajik basin in the province of Kunduz. We’ll put this up for tender next year,” he said.
The US survey found Afghanistan’s potential lithium deposits are as large of those of Bolivia, which has the world’s largest known reserves of the lightweight metal, used to make batteries for mobile phones and laptops.
However, acknowledging the fragile situation in Afghanistan, Shahrani said: “Developing mines will take a long time,” adding that Afghanistan lacks the basic infrastructure for major mining investments.
The US also said it could take years to develop the industry, and acknowledged that Afghanistan, widely considered one of the most corrupt countries in the world, would be challenged to ensure profits did not enrich only a few.
Published in the Express Tribune, June 18th, 2010.