la-fgw-0615-afghan-minerals-20100615
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 Â… 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.
Copyright 2010 Associated Press
