Afghanistan’s new export: minerals?
A recent study by US geologists has found that Afghanistan has a much larger quantity of valuable minerals than previously believed: approximately a trillion dollars’ worth. That figure is all the more staggering compared to Afghanistan’s GDP of about $12 billion. The minerals include lithium, iron, gold, niobium, mercury, and cobalt; Afghanistan is seeking bids to extract the minerals, starting with iron and copper mines. The deposits are so big and varied that US officials believe Afghanistan could eventually become one of the most important mining centers in the world.
Extracting the minerals may be challenging, as much of it is in territory that the Taliban controls and the country, which has never had large-scale mining, does not have the infrastructure in place to extract, refine, and ship its natural resources.
Tags: mining
