Afghanistan’s President Karzai has told reporters that his country is sitting on mineral and petroleum reserves worth an estimated one trillion dollars.
The President told reporters on Sunday that he is basing his assertion on a $17 million survey which the United States Geological Survey (USGS) has been working on for a number of years and which is due to be completed in a couple of months. If correct the war-ravaged nation could become one of the richest in the world if helped to tap its geological deposits.
Afghanistan is not known as a resource-rich country however it does have deposits of copper, iron ore, gold and chromite, as well as natural gas, oil and precious and semi-precious stones. Little of these have been exploited as the country has been mired in an ongoing conflict for 30 years.
China and India have bid for contracts to develop mines, with China's state-owned metals giant Metallurgical Group Corporation (MCC) winning a three-billion-dollar contract to develop the Aynak copper mine -- one of the world's biggest copper mines-- over the next 30 years. An iron ore contract is expected to be awarded later this year.
Aynak 30 kilometres (20 miles) to the south of Kabul was discovered in 1974 and is estimated to contain 11.3 million tonnes of copper.
The Hajigak iron ore mine in Bamiyan province, north of Kabul, is currently under tender, with one Chinese and six Indian firms bidding. The contract is for the exploitation of almost two billion tonnes of high-grade ore, involving processing, smelting, steel production and electricity production.
Showing posts with label afghanistan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label afghanistan. Show all posts
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Friday, January 1, 2010
Afghanistan Extends Hajigak Iron Ore Bids
Afghanistan extended the deadline for seven Asian companies to submit final bids for the license to mine iron-ore at Hajigak, the nation’s largest deposit of the metal, by six weeks to Feb. 15, a Mines Ministry official said.
The earlier deadline of Dec. 30 was pushed back by the ministry at the request of one of the bidders, Hafizullah Afzaly said in a phone interview from Kabul today. Afzaly, who is receiving the bids at the ministry, declined to name the company that requested the delay.
The bidders include five Indian companies, a unit of Saudi Arabia’s Al-Tuwairqi Group and the Metallurgical Corporation of China Ltd. In July, the ministry said it had approved applications from India’s Essar Minerals Ltd., Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd., Ispat Industries Ltd., JSW Steel Ltd. and Vedanta Resources Plc’s Sesa Goa Ltd.
The seven companies are competing for the license to mine what government surveys say are 1.8 billion tons of ore in the Hindu Kush mountains, 130 kilometers (80 miles) west of Kabul, the capital. The ore contains 62 percent iron, the surveys show.
Source: Bloomberg
The earlier deadline of Dec. 30 was pushed back by the ministry at the request of one of the bidders, Hafizullah Afzaly said in a phone interview from Kabul today. Afzaly, who is receiving the bids at the ministry, declined to name the company that requested the delay.
The bidders include five Indian companies, a unit of Saudi Arabia’s Al-Tuwairqi Group and the Metallurgical Corporation of China Ltd. In July, the ministry said it had approved applications from India’s Essar Minerals Ltd., Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd., Ispat Industries Ltd., JSW Steel Ltd. and Vedanta Resources Plc’s Sesa Goa Ltd.
The seven companies are competing for the license to mine what government surveys say are 1.8 billion tons of ore in the Hindu Kush mountains, 130 kilometers (80 miles) west of Kabul, the capital. The ore contains 62 percent iron, the surveys show.
Source: Bloomberg
Thursday, July 9, 2009
China Metallurigcal Starts Work On Afghan Project
A Chinese firm started work on a copper deposit in Afghanistan on Thursday, part of a multi-billion dollar project and the first major foreign investment of its kind in Afghan history, an official said.
As if to underscore the dangers of working in Afghanistan, just hours before work began at the Aynak mine in Logar province a powerful blast in another part of the province killed 25 people, including 15 school children.
State-owned China Metallurgical Group Corp (CMGC) and China's top integrated copper producer Jiangxi Copper Co won a 2008 tender to explore and develop the vast Aynak Copper Mine south of the capital Kabul.
Aynak is thought to contain up to 13 million tonnes of copper and is regarded as one of the major ore bodies in the world.
With Afghanistan facing a growing Taliban-led insurgency, security concerns had stopped CMGC from starting work on the project until Thursday.
The deposit was discovered in 1974 and surveyed by Soviet geologists in 1979 has never been developed until now.
Landmines in and around the site had to be removed, and a number of large craters, caused by U.S. bombs dropped on what was then a military training camp in late 2001, had to be filled, a Mines Ministry official said.
"The minister has gone to inaugurate the start of the actual work of Aynak," the official told Reuters on condition of anonymity because he is not authorised to speak to the media.
The Chinese group will invest $2.898 billion on the project.
Construction work is due to finish in less than three years and the Chinese group will pay the Afghan government $400 million a year to operate the mine, which should provide jobs for thousands of Afghans.
It plans to extract some 200,000 tonnes of copper a year, according to previous ministry estimates. It will first build a power station to run to the mine and will seek coal deposits to fuel the station.
The project is the biggest foreign investment in Afghanistan's history.
Afghanistan currently relies on aid for about 90 percent of its budget, but its mines minister told Reuters in March the country was sitting on vast reserves of mineral wealth.
It was looking for mining firms to open up a huge iron deposit, holding an estimated 1.8 billion tonnes of high-quality ore, in the central part of the country.
A U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) shows Afghanistan may hold far higher amounts of minerals than previously thought, with iron deposits alone estimated at between five to six billion tonnes, Mines Minister Mohammad Ibrahim Adel said in March.
SourcE: Reuters
As if to underscore the dangers of working in Afghanistan, just hours before work began at the Aynak mine in Logar province a powerful blast in another part of the province killed 25 people, including 15 school children.
State-owned China Metallurgical Group Corp (CMGC) and China's top integrated copper producer Jiangxi Copper Co won a 2008 tender to explore and develop the vast Aynak Copper Mine south of the capital Kabul.
Aynak is thought to contain up to 13 million tonnes of copper and is regarded as one of the major ore bodies in the world.
With Afghanistan facing a growing Taliban-led insurgency, security concerns had stopped CMGC from starting work on the project until Thursday.
The deposit was discovered in 1974 and surveyed by Soviet geologists in 1979 has never been developed until now.
Landmines in and around the site had to be removed, and a number of large craters, caused by U.S. bombs dropped on what was then a military training camp in late 2001, had to be filled, a Mines Ministry official said.
"The minister has gone to inaugurate the start of the actual work of Aynak," the official told Reuters on condition of anonymity because he is not authorised to speak to the media.
The Chinese group will invest $2.898 billion on the project.
Construction work is due to finish in less than three years and the Chinese group will pay the Afghan government $400 million a year to operate the mine, which should provide jobs for thousands of Afghans.
It plans to extract some 200,000 tonnes of copper a year, according to previous ministry estimates. It will first build a power station to run to the mine and will seek coal deposits to fuel the station.
The project is the biggest foreign investment in Afghanistan's history.
Afghanistan currently relies on aid for about 90 percent of its budget, but its mines minister told Reuters in March the country was sitting on vast reserves of mineral wealth.
It was looking for mining firms to open up a huge iron deposit, holding an estimated 1.8 billion tonnes of high-quality ore, in the central part of the country.
A U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) shows Afghanistan may hold far higher amounts of minerals than previously thought, with iron deposits alone estimated at between five to six billion tonnes, Mines Minister Mohammad Ibrahim Adel said in March.
SourcE: Reuters
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Asian Miners Scramble For Afghan Iron Ore Deposit
The biggest iron ore deposit in Asia is likely to be claimed by an Indian or Chinese firm after the two nations dominated the tender shortlist for Afghanistan's huge Hajigak reserve. Five Indian firms, a state-owned Chinese company and a joint Pakistani and Saudi venture now have three months to bid for the mining rights.
Analysts said China and India were keen to secure mineral supplies for their rapidly growing economies.
Thirty years of invasion, civil war and insurgency have meant the ore has never been mined despite being comprehensively mapped in the 1960s.
Exploiting the vast deposit 80 miles west of Kabul is a cornerstone of plans to build up the Afghan economy and in turn defeat the stubborn Taliban-led insurgency.
A British Geological Survey report on the Hajigak deposit said it was an "exceptionally favourable target for economic development".
Bidders will be expected to help construct an Afghan steel industry from the deposit, which is close to a large supply of coking coal at nearby Shabashak.
Muhammad Ibrahim Adel, Afghanistan's minister for mines, said bids should include offers to build infrastructure including a steel plant, a rail link and a replacement for an ageing fertilizer factory.
He told The Daily Telegraph: "This deposit is the mother of the steel industry in Afghanistan and it will give us a very good opportunity to develop the economy and create jobs for people and transfer technology. "I hope that the mining industry will develop the infrastructure of Afghanistan more than 50pc."
Developing Hajigak in the mountainous Bamiyan province could create 10,000 jobs in mining and another 10,000 in the steel industry he said.
Source: Daily Telegraph
Analysts said China and India were keen to secure mineral supplies for their rapidly growing economies.
Thirty years of invasion, civil war and insurgency have meant the ore has never been mined despite being comprehensively mapped in the 1960s.
Exploiting the vast deposit 80 miles west of Kabul is a cornerstone of plans to build up the Afghan economy and in turn defeat the stubborn Taliban-led insurgency.
A British Geological Survey report on the Hajigak deposit said it was an "exceptionally favourable target for economic development".
Bidders will be expected to help construct an Afghan steel industry from the deposit, which is close to a large supply of coking coal at nearby Shabashak.
Muhammad Ibrahim Adel, Afghanistan's minister for mines, said bids should include offers to build infrastructure including a steel plant, a rail link and a replacement for an ageing fertilizer factory.
He told The Daily Telegraph: "This deposit is the mother of the steel industry in Afghanistan and it will give us a very good opportunity to develop the economy and create jobs for people and transfer technology. "I hope that the mining industry will develop the infrastructure of Afghanistan more than 50pc."
Developing Hajigak in the mountainous Bamiyan province could create 10,000 jobs in mining and another 10,000 in the steel industry he said.
Source: Daily Telegraph
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Afghanistan Seeks Tenders For Iron Ore Deposit
Afghanistan is looking for mining firms to open up a huge iron deposit, holding an estimated 1.8 billion tonnes of high quality ore, but potential bidders face a volatile security situation in a remote, mountainous region.
The Ministry of Mines is offering mineral rights to the Hajigak iron deposit and surrounding areas through a tender process expected to end in a mining contract, it said in an undated statement posted on its website (www.mom.gov.af).
The ore has a high iron content of 62 percent, and the deposits are suitable for open pit mining, ministry documents said. There are 16 ore bodies, extending for as much as 5 km (3 miles) and to depths of over 550 metres (1,800 ft).
The deposits are only 130 km (80 miles) west of the capital Kabul, but the terrain is remote and mountainous.
It is also situated on the edge of an area which has seen a sharp rise in insurgent activity over the last two years, as the government struggles to fight a growing Taliban offensive.
Maps in a prospectus for potential bidders showed veins of ore reaching down the side of a hill and there is potential for more deposits in the surrounding area, although there is also some room for the mine's prospects to disappoint.
Measured, proven, indicated and probable reserves are only 111 million tonnes. The remainder of the advertised deposit, identified by Afghan-Soviet exploration teams in the 1960s, is inferred, possible and hypothetical reserves, a brochure said.
Nearby seams of coking coal would make it possible to set up an integrated iron and steel complex with a blast furnace.
Afghanistan currently relies on aid for around 90 percent of its budget, but its mines minister told Reuters last month the country is sitting on vast reserves of mineral wealth.
A U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) had shown the war-torn nation may hold far higher amounts of minerals than previously thought, with iron deposits alone estimated at between five to six billion tonnes, minister Mohammad Ibrahim Adel said.
He urged foreign firms to invest in the sector, and said he did not think the security situation would deter them.
China's top integrated copper producer, Jiangxi Copper Co, and China Metallurgical Group Corp, are going ahead with exploration of the vast Aynak Copper Mine, south of Kabul, after they won the contract to develop it last year.
Potential bidders for the Hajigak project must have evidence of successful investment and technical management of iron ore exploration and development, and of operating in a socially and environmentally friendly way, the ministry said.
Expressions of interest must arrive by the end of April, the document said, and Kabul is keen to speed development.
"Given that natural resources are a priority for the economic development of Afghanistan, the ministry is interested in those companies that will commit to development of the Hajigak deposit on an accelerated basis," the statement said.
Source: Reuters
The Ministry of Mines is offering mineral rights to the Hajigak iron deposit and surrounding areas through a tender process expected to end in a mining contract, it said in an undated statement posted on its website (www.mom.gov.af).
The ore has a high iron content of 62 percent, and the deposits are suitable for open pit mining, ministry documents said. There are 16 ore bodies, extending for as much as 5 km (3 miles) and to depths of over 550 metres (1,800 ft).
The deposits are only 130 km (80 miles) west of the capital Kabul, but the terrain is remote and mountainous.
It is also situated on the edge of an area which has seen a sharp rise in insurgent activity over the last two years, as the government struggles to fight a growing Taliban offensive.
Maps in a prospectus for potential bidders showed veins of ore reaching down the side of a hill and there is potential for more deposits in the surrounding area, although there is also some room for the mine's prospects to disappoint.
Measured, proven, indicated and probable reserves are only 111 million tonnes. The remainder of the advertised deposit, identified by Afghan-Soviet exploration teams in the 1960s, is inferred, possible and hypothetical reserves, a brochure said.
Nearby seams of coking coal would make it possible to set up an integrated iron and steel complex with a blast furnace.
Afghanistan currently relies on aid for around 90 percent of its budget, but its mines minister told Reuters last month the country is sitting on vast reserves of mineral wealth.
A U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) had shown the war-torn nation may hold far higher amounts of minerals than previously thought, with iron deposits alone estimated at between five to six billion tonnes, minister Mohammad Ibrahim Adel said.
He urged foreign firms to invest in the sector, and said he did not think the security situation would deter them.
China's top integrated copper producer, Jiangxi Copper Co, and China Metallurgical Group Corp, are going ahead with exploration of the vast Aynak Copper Mine, south of Kabul, after they won the contract to develop it last year.
Potential bidders for the Hajigak project must have evidence of successful investment and technical management of iron ore exploration and development, and of operating in a socially and environmentally friendly way, the ministry said.
Expressions of interest must arrive by the end of April, the document said, and Kabul is keen to speed development.
"Given that natural resources are a priority for the economic development of Afghanistan, the ministry is interested in those companies that will commit to development of the Hajigak deposit on an accelerated basis," the statement said.
Source: Reuters
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