mining in Afghanistan

Was doing some research on the Russian/Afghan war and stumbled across this info. I’ve heard of the mining expeditions by J.P. Morgan and others recently but didn’t realize it went this deep.

minning in afghanistan

Seeing as Afghanistan is supposedly the new Saudi Arabia and possibly the most mineral rich area in the world, it’s pretty safe to say we’re not there to fight terror but to secure more resources in my opinion.
Some quotes from the article below,
“ The country has extensive deposits of barite, chromite, coal, copper, gold, iron ore, lead, natural gas, petroleum, precious and semiprecious stones, salt, sulfur, talc, and zinc. Precious and semiprecious stones include high-quality emerald, lapis lazuli, red garnet and ruby”
“A new mining law was passed in 2006 and as of 2006 regulations were being developed to provide the framework for more formal exploration for and mining of minerals. The process of applying for mineral rights was also being revised as of 2006. All minerals located on or under the surface are the exclusive property of the Government, except for hydrocarbons and water, which are regulated under separate laws.”
“The Law also gives the mineral royalty rates, which range from 5% of gross revenue for industrial minerals to up to 10% for gemstones. Other changes in Government policy in 2006 included the legalization of the gemstone trade, Government control of the gemstone industry, and encouragement of investment in mining”


“In 2010, a small team of Pentagon officials and American geologists discovered about $1 trillion in untapped mineral deposits in Afghanistan,[6] [7] enough to fundamentally alter the Afghan economy and perhaps the Afghan war itself, according to senior American government officials. According to other reports the total mineral riches of Afghanistan may be worth over $3 trillion US dollars”

Read the article for more insight, it’s pretty interesting.

I saw this news back in 2010.

I asked my dad's friend, who's son is a top internal intelligence officer.

He said he didn't know anything about the 1 trillion $.
I thought this was fake, but seems too me like big companies are trying to hide the goodies from the public.
I mean who wants another gold rush where all the normal people get the money? Psh.(/sarcasm)

reply to post by 0Mark


Yeah this all sounds fishy to me, the afghan government owns the mines and the U.S. owns the afghan government. Not really hard to tell were most of the profits are going to end up.