US lives, limbs, and tax dollars continue to be spent for "rebuilding Afghanistan."
9/5/14, "Rare Earth: Afghanistan Sits on $1 Trillion in Minerals," nbcnews.com, Charles Q. Choi, LiveScience
"Despite
being one of the poorest nations in the world, Afghanistan may be
sitting on one of the richest troves of minerals in the world, valued at
nearly $1 trillion, scientists say.
Afghanistan, a country
nearly the size of Texas, is loaded with minerals deposited by the
violent collision of the Indian subcontinent with Asia. The U.S.
Geological Survey began inspecting what mineral resources Afghanistan
had after U.S.-led forces drove the Taliban from power in the country in
2004.
In 2006, U.S. researchers flew airborne missions to conduct magnetic, gravity and hyperspectral surveys over Afghanistan. [Infographic: Facts About Rare Earth Minerals]
The aerial surveys determined that
Afghanistan may hold 60 million tons of copper, 2.2 billion tons of iron
ore, 1.4 million tons of rare earth elements such as lanthanum, cerium
and neodymium, and lodes of aluminum, gold,
silver, zinc, mercury and lithium. For instance, the Khanneshin
carbonatite deposit in Afghanistan's Helmand province is valued at $89
billion, full as it is with rare earth elements.
"Afghanistan is a
country that is very, very rich in mineral resources," geologist Jack
Medlin, program manager of the USGS Afghanistan project, told
LiveScience. The scientists' work was detailed in the Aug. 15 issue of
the journal Science.
In 2010, the USGS data attracted the attention of the U.S. Department of Defense's Task Force
for Business and Stability Operations, which is entrusted with
rebuilding Afghanistan. The task force valued Afghanistan's mineral
resources at $908 billion, while the Afghan government's estimate is $3
trillion.
Over the past four
years, USGS and TFBSO have embarked on dozens of excursions to confirm
the aerial findings, resulting in what are essentially treasure maps for
mining companies.
The Afghan government
has already signed a 30-year, $3 billion contract with the China
Metallurgical Group, a state-owned mining enterprise based in Beijing,
to exploit the Mes Aynak copper deposit, and awarded mining rights for
the country's biggest iron deposit to a group of Indian state-run and
private companies."
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