US geologists find $1trillion of mineral reserves in Afghanistan

[Treffie]

Afghanistan may contain vast mineral wealth that could be worth more than $1 trillion (£678bn), US geologists say.

The country generated GDP per head of just $800 in 2009, but the new-found mineral wealth could propel the country into one of the world’s most lucrative mining areas, a report in The New York Times claims.

“There is stunning potential here,” General David H. Petraeus, commander of the United States Central Command, said. “There are a lot of 'ifs', of course, but I think potentially it is hugely significant.”

Deposits in the country include iron, copper, cobalt, gold and industrial metals such as lithium, which is used in coolants, batteries for laptops and mobile phones as well as in pharmaceutical production.

Lithium batteries are being developed as a low-carbon way of powering vehicles, with Sanyo recently saying it was to start mass producing a lithium-ion battery later this year for solar cell systems and electric cars. The report claimed that Afghanistan contained so much of the metallic element that it could become the “Saudi Arabia of Lithium”.

The US Geological Survey began aerial surveys of Afghanistan in 2006, using data that had been collected by Soviet mining experts during the Soviet occupation in the 1980s.

The largest mineral deposits discovered are of iron and copper, as well as large gold deposits in the Pashtun areas of southern Afghanistan.

However, violence continues in the country and, with virtually no mining industry or infrastructure in place, it is likely to take decades for Afghanistan to exploit this mineral wealth to the full.

Source (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/industry/mining/7826474/US-geologists-find-1trillion-of-mineral-reserves-in-Afghanistan.html)

[The Ripper]

n 2004, U.S. geologists sent to Afghanistan as part of a broader reconstruction effort stumbled across an intriguing series of old charts and data that hinted at major mineral deposits in the country.

They soon learned the data from the library of the Afghan Geological Survey had been collected by Soviet mining experts during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s, but cast aside when the Soviets withdrew in 1989.

During the chaos of the 1990s, when Afghanistan was mired in civil war and later ruled by the Taliban, a small group of Afghan geologists protected the charts by taking them home, and returned them to the Geological Survey's library only after the U.S. invasion and the ouster of the Taliban in 2001.

"There were maps, but the development did not take place, because you had 30 to 35 years of war," said Ahmad Hujabre, an Afghan engineer who worked for the Ministry of Mines in the 1970s.

Armed with the old Russian charts, the U.S. Geological Survey began a series of aerial surveys of Afghanistan's mineral resources in 2006, using advanced gravity and magnetic measuring equipment attached to an old Navy Orion P-3 aircraft that flew over about 70 percent of the country.

The data from those flights was so promising that geologists returned in 2007 for an even more sophisticated study, using an old British bomber equipped with instruments that offered a three-dimensional profile of mineral deposits below the ground. It was the most comprehensive geologic survey of Afghanistan ever conducted.

The handful of U.S. geologists who pored over the new data said the results were astonishing.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2012111073_afghanside14.html

Already the Soviets knew about it, so its not exactly news.

[The Lawspeaker]

Afghans: US finds mineral riches in Afghanistan (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100614/ap_on_bi_ge/us_afghanistan_mineral_treasures)

KABUL, Afghanistan – U.S. geologists have discovered vast mineral wealth in Afghanistan, possibly amounting to $1 trillion, President Hamid Karzai's spokesman said Monday.

Waheed Omar told reporters the findings were made by the U.S. Geological Survey under contract to the Afghan government.
"The result of the survey ... has shown that Afghanistan has mineral resources worth $1 trillion," Omar said. "This is not an overall survey of all minerals in Afghanistan. Whatever has been found in this survey is worth $1 trillion."

Omar refused to provide details, referring reporters to the Ministry of Mines. An official at the ministry refused to discuss the survey, saying details would be released at a news conference later this week.
A 2007 report by the USGS said most of the data on Afghanistan's mineral resources was produced between the early 1950s and 1985 but much was hidden and protected by Afghan scientists "during the intermittent conflict over the next two decades."

The New York Times reported the $1 trillion figure in Monday's edition and quoted senior American officials as saying untapped mineral deposits in Afghanistan are far beyond any previously known reserves and were enough to fundamentally alter the Afghan economy and perhaps the Afghan war itself.
Americans discovered nearly $1 trillion in untapped mineral deposits in Afghanistan, including iron, copper, cobalt, gold and critical industrial metals like lithium, according to the report. The Times quoted a Pentagon memo as saying Afghanistan could become the "Saudi Arabia of lithium," a key raw material in the manufacture of batteries for laptops and cell phones.
"There is stunning potential here," the newspaper quoted Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander of the United States Central Command as saying. "There are a lot of ifs, of course, but I think potentially it is hugely significant."

Geologists have known for decades that Afghanistan contained substantial mineral resources, including copper, gold and cobalt. But the resources have never been fully exploited because of decades of armed conflict and poor infrastructure. The Times said huge lithium deposits were found in Ghazni province — much of which is effectively under Taliban control.

During a visit last month to Washington, Karzai said his nation's untapped mineral deposits could be even higher — perhaps as much as $3 trillion.
The mineral resources are a "massive opportunity," Karzai said at a May 13 event with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton held at the U.S. Institute of Peace.

The report in the Times said the USGS began aerial surveys of Afghanistan's mineral resources in 2006, using data that had been collected by Soviet mining experts during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s. Promising results led to a more sophisticated study the next year.
Then last year, a Pentagon task force that had created business development programs in Iraq arrived in Afghanistan and closely analyzed the geologists' findings. U.S. mining experts were brought in to validate the survey's conclusions, and top U.S. and Afghan officials were briefed.

"I think it's very, very big news for the people of Afghanistan and that we hope will bring the Afghan people together for a cause that will benefit everyone," Karzai's spokesman, Omar, said. "This is an economic interest that will benefit all Afghans and will benefit Afghanistan in the long run."
So far, the biggest mineral deposits discovered are of iron and copper, but finds include large deposits of niobium, a soft metal used in producing superconducting steel, as well as rare earth elements and large gold deposits in Pashtun areas of southern Afghanistan, the report said. Many of those areas are too dangerous because of Taliban activity.

Charles Kernot, a mining analyst with Evolution Securities Ltd. in London, said it typically takes three to five years to get a lithium mining operation up and running. Factors include how close the deposit is to power sources and other infrastructure and the size of the deposit.

And large lithium deposits may not mean an automatic windfall — given competition and the uncertainty of the market.
"Bolivia wants to expand its lithium mining operations dramatically over the next few years so there is a risk of oversupply if demand from electric cars does not meet expectations," Kernot said.

Article contains a video.

[The Lawspeaker]

I am sure it's all just a coincidence. :rolleyes:

[Austin]

meh won't matter, Pashtuns don't have the civility or societal structure to maintain such industries and wouldn't be able to resist destroying the professional industry and atmosphere required to extract it all.

Once they realized that the cheap Chinamen who would be used to build and run it all were whoring left and right they'd go nuts and start killing and bombing and in those mountains no govt. could stop them nor have they been able to so far, with the last superpower having tried and failed and the current one actively failing to do so

[Guapo]

I am sure it's all just a coincidence. :rolleyes:

What do you mean? I thought the US was there to bring freedom and demoncracy to the women in burkas :confused: Shit, and I thought everything was black and white.

[Aramis]

The article posted by Asega, and this (http://abcnews.go.com/International/Media/bhopal-gas-tragedy-indian-court-finds-guilty/story?id=10845303) finished me off. There is only one way out. Immigrate and become part of the winner side (http://sohos.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/god-bless-america.jpg).