From the NY Times:
WASHINGTON — The United States has discovered nearly $1 trillion in untapped mineral deposits in Afghanistan, far beyond any previously known reserves and enough to fundamentally alter the Afghan economy and perhaps the Afghan war itself, according to senior American government officials.
The previously unknown deposits — including huge veins of iron, copper, cobalt, gold and critical industrial metals like lithium — are so big and include so many minerals that are essential to modern industry that Afghanistan could eventually be transformed into one of the most important mining centers in the world, the United States officials believe.
An internal Pentagon memo, for example, states that Afghanistan could become the “Saudi Arabia of lithium,” a key raw material in the manufacture of batteries for laptops and BlackBerrys.
The vast scale of Afghanistan’s mineral wealth was discovered by a small team of Pentagon officials and American geologists. The Afghan government and President Hamid Karzai were recently briefed, American officials said.
While it could take many years to develop a mining industry, the potential is so great that officials and executives in the industry believe it could attract heavy investment even before mines are profitable, providing the possibility of jobs that could distract from generations of war.
“There is stunning potential here,” Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander of the United States Central Command, said in an interview on Saturday. “There are a lot of ifs, of course, but I think potentially it is hugely significant.”
The value of the newly discovered mineral deposits dwarfs the size of Afghanistan’s existing war-bedraggled economy, which is based largely on opium production and narcotics trafficking as well as aid from the United States and other industrialized countries. Afghanistan’s gross domestic product is only about $12 billion.
“This will become the backbone of the Afghan economy,” said Jalil Jumriany, an adviser to the Afghan minister of mines.
We have already know about the Afghanistan lapis lazuli, better known as just lapis. It has become increasingly more costly since the Afghanistan war, mainly because it is harder to get the mineral. Afghan miners go far up into the mountains where the vast lapis deposits are and bring out the rough on mules and human packs. The best lapis in the world comes out of Afghanistan. I got my stash from a friend’s husband who has a good eye for jewelry.
Now what about all this lithium, iron, copper, cobalt, gold, etc? Supposedly trillions of dollars worth. How would a primitive country like Afghanistan ever develop to the point where some of these riches could be mined and distributed world wide? What would keep the Taliban and Al Quada from taking control of the wealth?
It sounds to me like if anything is done with these riches, the Americans out to put on their ugly American hat and simply be the big, bad watch dog. Besides, that war has cost us a small fortune. Pay backs are expensive. Royalties are expensive.
Sounds like that mountain range should become soverign US territory…
Well, maybe they could finally have an industry that could take over poppy as the main source of revenue! That could be the thing that brings them out of the third world. Us being over there isn’t going to do it. They have to seize this opportunity. Oh, and this won’t happen, but we should get enough of that stuff to pay for the war over there.
I qm so worried. Capt and Marin and I are agreeing. Arrggghhhh. Just shoot me.
Don’t guess I would volunteer to be a prospector in that area. Might be a bit like sneaking into the Black Hills for gold about 1876 and then suddenly discovering that George Custer wasn’t coming back.
Snicker. At least!!!
There has got to be a reason all those minerals are still in the earth.
Thank goodness they have been getting that lapis out of the earth. Best in the world. Denim Lapis is found in parts of South America. It just doesn’t have the richness of color that the Afghanistan lapis does.
Poppies and Lapis.
Lapis’ ain’t really my thing. I bought my wife a few pieces of tanzanite before they got super expensive. They’re so pretty and she loves purple. SCORE!
I say the taxpayers should make use of those American mountains… Mount Saint Palin. I like the ring of that.
I love Tanzanite. I only own one ring of it. Tiny tiny tanz in it. It is too expensive. You know the mines flooded. Wahhhhh.
Lapis is good. Not my favorite, but nothing replaces it either. I have favorite faceted clear stones and favorite cabachon opaque stones. Turq is the fave.
So what should we do about all these buried treasures? Walk away or help pay for this very costly war?
Who should benefit? Is digging them out worth it?
This may well turn out to be the worst possible thing that could happen to Afghanistan. We are talking about a country where large groups of folks live in the land that time forgot. There simply is no infrastructure to support the what it will take to develop the mines, extract the ore, transport the ore to where it can be processed and then move the processed product to a where it can be utilized for manufacturing. We are talking decades for this to occur, if ever. Look at other countries where “wealth” has been discovered and look at whether that “wealth” has trickled down to the citizens. This is not some slot machine payout.
I agree, George. Sort of a be careful what you wish for situation.
I can’t see any good coming out of it.
Look! More stuff for ….China. They are the only ones that seem to be willing to take on the PR of major industrial actions. Our laws would hamper any development. And George is right, Afghanistan is not able to take advantage of this. Perhaps Pakistan (ya think?) would be willing to do it.