Mines minister to restart talks about Afghanistan’s mines

Afghanistan minister of Mines and Petroleum says to restart negotiations regarding the issue of Mess Aynak and Hajigak mines.

Dawood Shah Sabah, the minister of Mines and Petroleum said that there are many shortcomings in the contracts of the two biggest mines of Afghanistan which would not be in national interest if not resolved.

Afghanistan mines minister declared that no contract signed regarding the Hajigak mine and there is only the process of volunteer for private companies.

Mines play decisive role in economic development of Afghanistan and the NUG should not ignore it.

A series of primary surveys have shown that the value of Afghanistan mines are over $3 trillion but later it was revealed that it only covers 28 percent of Afghanistan mines, however still there is no exact estimation over the value of the country’s rich and intact natural mines.

This is a glad tiding and real good news to Afghan people and it is necessary to us to exploit these resources for our economic rehabilitation as quick as possible.

The Hajigak iron mine is the world third big iron resource with an available reservoir of over 7.28 billion tons of iron.

Dawood Shah Saba also stated that the contracted Chinese companies had done nothing for extracting the Mess Aynak mine.

Developing Afghanistan’s potentially rich deposits of iron, oil, gold, copper, lithium and other natural resources is regarded as crucial to the country’s economic prospects, transforming it into a state that can begin to pay its own way and allowing the international community to cut back its financial and, ultimately, military support. But there are persistent concerns that any resource boom could be jeopardized by corruption, worsening security and political instability.

Shah Saba also noted that the Afghan government has spent $ 210 million for providing the security of mines, while its revenue is unknown.

There are six lapis mines in Afghanistan, the largest being located in Badakhshan province.

There are around 12 copper mines in Afghanistan, including the Aynak copper deposit located in Logar province.

Afghanistan’s significance from an energy standpoint stems from its geographical position as a potential transit route for oil and natural gas exports from Central Asia to the Arabian Sea.

This potential includes the construction of the Trans-Afghanistan Pipeline gas pipeline. The first Afghan oil production began in October 2012.

In the meantime, the Wolesi Jirga summoned minister of counter narcotics over raise of concerns about the drug addicted.

Reported by Abdul Aziz Karimi