There are substantial quantities of marble deposits within Afghanistan. The marble that is mined within
the country is typically exported and only a tiny fraction is processed, typically in handicraft
activities, or for local construction use, in Afghanistan.
The minerals industry in Afghanistan is beginning to show signs of revival after years of conflict and
a chronic lack of investment. The booming construction industry has increased demand for raw materials,
and high metal prices and increased political stability have increased the interest of mining companies
in the country’s undoubted mineral potential.
Marble
There is a wide variety of marble in Afghanistan currently extracted from quarries in Badakhshan,
Balkh, Bamyan, Helmand, Heart, Kabul, Kandahar, Logar, Faryab, Wardak, Nabgarhar, Paktia, Parwan and
Samangan provinces. Marbles developed in rocks of Proterozoic age are considered to be the highest
quality for use as dimension stone. Marble deposits can be found in the provinces of Kabul, Logar,
Wardak, Badakhan, Herat, and Nangarhar amongst others.
Onyx Marble.
Onyx is a banded variety of chalcedony, a cryptocrystalline form of quartz. Onyx is highly valued as a
high quality marble and the colour of its bands range from white to almost every other colour. Afghan
onyx is quarried from several provinces including Bamyan, Helmand and Faryab, with colours including
shades of yellow, green or brown. Some of these may in fact be a variety of aragonite (calcium
carbonate) called travertine, however the traditional name of onyx has remained in place and is still used to this day.
The Chesht and Khogiani marble are currently worked for dimension stone and have been favourably
compared to Carrara marble, an Italian marble recognised to be one of the finest in the world.
During the past five years the political situation in the country has stabilised. Democratic
Presidential and parliamentary elections were held peacefully in 2004 and 2005 – the first such
elections for over 30 years. The government, with the help of the international community, has passed a
raft of essential new laws and begun to reform the civil service. One result of this reform process has
been a new Minerals Law, which was written with the assistance of the World Bank and passed in July
2005. The new law aims to encourage investment by local and international companies and changes the
role of the Ministry of Mines and Industries (MMI) from a state-run minerals producer to a regulatory
and promotional organisation. Although security is a problem in the south and east of the country, most
of the northern provinces are stable, with few security concerns that would affect mineral exploration.
The country is well endowed with minerals, which include copper, gold, iron ore, chromium, precious and
semi-precious stones, industrial minerals, coal, oil and natural gas. Despite decades of turmoil, most
of the records of the Russian exploration work carried in the 1970s and 1980s still exist in the
Afghanistan Geological Survey, which now occupies a newly refurbished building in Kabul. These records
form an essential archive and the basis for more modern exploration techniques that have not been
applied in much of the country.
Afghanistan sits astride the collision zone between the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates and its
geology is complex. The northern part of the country contains most of the known hydrocarbon resources
and forms part of the Eurasian platform; a succession of small blocks that originally formed part of
the Gondwana supercontinent have accreted on to its southern margin before the final docking with the
Indian plate in Miocene times. These complex processes have led to a wide variety of mineral-deposit
styles ranging from sediment-hosted copper to porphyry Cu-Au, epithermal gold and pegmatite-hosted rare-metal and gem deposits.
Copper:
The Aynak copper deposit is situated about 35 km south of Kabul and is a very large, stratabound
deposit hosted by Vendian-Lower Cambrian carbonate rocks of the Kabul Block. Extensive Russian
exploration was carried out on the prospect in the 1970s and 1980s, including 120 km of drilling.
Historic inferred resources are 240 Mt of ore at an average grade of 2.3% Cu. The MMI is going out to
international tender for the rights to the deposit and Tender Advisors have been appointed to manage
the tender process, which should be completed in 2006. Development of this deposit will give a dramatic
boost to the mining industry in Afghanistan and encourage further exploration for copper in the Kabul Block.
Gold:
There are a large number of gold occurrences in the country, including a notable number in a belt
extending southwest from Ghazni to Zabul and Kandahar. Although many are described as Cu-Au skarn
deposits, the close association with Miocene granites and porphyries shows that they are more closely
related to porphyry-style Cu-Au deposits, and form part of the Tethyan Metallogenic Belt extending from
the Carpathians, through Eastern Turkey, Iran (Songun, Sar Chesmeh) and Pakistan (Reko Diq).
Other prospective areas include the Herat area, where a small UK junior company is reported to have
signed an exploration licence agreement with the MMI. Another gold deposit, in Baghlan Province, is
believed to be under negotiation. In a country with poor infrastructure, gold exploration may be the
most attractive option for small mining companies.
Iron ore:
A large iron-ore deposit has been outlined at Hajigak, 100 km west of Kabul in Bamyan Province. The
deposit extends for 32 km along strike, is up to 380 m wide and has been traced down dip for 550 m. The
surface ore is haematitic but below 100 m the orebody comprises magnetite plus some pyrite and
chalcopyrite, and averages 61.3% Fe. Resources are estimated at 1,700 Mt of ore. Export of the iron-ore
would be difficult but the presence of good quality coal not far to the north could form the basis for
an integrated iron and steel plant supplying the domestic and export markets.
Chromium:
A number of chromite deposits occur in Afghanistan, the best known being near Logar, some 40 km south
of Kabul. This deposit occurs in the Logar ophiolite, which was obducted on to the Kabul Block in the
Eocene. A number of small lensoid bodies are known and an estimated, near surface resource of 180,000 t
at 42.4% Cr2O3 has been outlined. In addition, small-scale working of chromite from an Eocene
peridotite is reported from Paktia Province, with the ore being exported to Pakistan.
Uranium:
Afghanistan formerly produced uranium from the mountains of Khawaja Rawash north of Kabul after the
discovery of deposits in 1983. Soviet engineers were also said to be mining uranium at Koh Mir Daoud,
between Herat and Shindand, and also in the Khakriz area of Kandahar Province. Very little information
on this work is available but Afghanistan has a high potential for further discoveries.
Precious and semi-precious stones
A number of semi-precious stones are currently exploited in Afghanistan, the most famous being lapis lazuli from the Sary-Sang deposit in Badakhshan. Production figures are difficult to determine but are
thought to be around 9,000 kg/y, with speculative reserves of 1,300 t. Most of the material is exported
to Pakistan where it is cut and polished. A wide variety of gemstones are known, including emerald,
ruby, sapphire, aquamarine, kunzite, garnet and tourmaline. Emeralds are worked on a small scale in the
Panjsher Valley, and most of the annual production, worth an estimated US$9-12 million, is traded
through Peshawar.
Construction and industrial minerals:
Building and reconstruction work in Kabul has increased demand for aggregate minerals, with hard rock
and alluvial sand and gravel being exploited. A major road-building programme linking Kabul to the main
cities has also increased the demand for roadstone and rockfill.
The marble industry has a long history in the country and a variety of white, grey, black, pink and
green marbles are exploited, but poor extraction methods using explosives have hindered production.
Increased investment in new machinery and better training will be needed to increase production of
blocks for export or for cutting and polishing locally.
Salt is produced on a small scale in the north of the country near the Tajikistan border. Deposits of
barite, fluorite and gypsum have been exploited to a limited extent.
Coal
Coal is presently exploited at Karar in the Pul-e-Khumri; at Ishputa near Doshi; and Dar-e-Suf to the
south of Mazar. Current production is probably below the historical level of 180,000 t/y and is
hindered by obsolescent and broken equipment. The coal is used for local power generation and the
cement industry but good coking coal at the last named locality could be used for blast furnaces.
Oil and gas
Afghanistan`s untapped oil and natural gas reserves may be significantly larger than previously
thought. The USGS estimates that the upper range of Afghanistan`s unproven oil reserves roughly matches
Sudan`s. The USGS survey shows that two northern regions could contain as much as 1.6 billion barrels
of oil, and 15.7 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. Much of the petroleum resource potential of
Afghanistan and all of the known crude oil and natural gas reserves are in northern Afghanistan,
located in parts of two geologic basins – the Amu Darya Basin to the west and the Afghan-Tajik Basin to
the east. Most of the undiscovered crude oil is believed to be in the Afghan-Tajik Basin, and most of
the undiscovered natural gas in the Amu Darya Basin.
The government passed a hydrocarbons law in 2005 that grants the Afghan State full control over these
resources, but allows fully foreign-owned companies to lease, explore, and develop oil and gas fields,
subject to negotiable royalties contracts. Afghanistan is drawing up oil and gas exploration blocks and will soon be seeking production-sharing agreements with foreign companies to develop what it hopes are larger-than-expected reserves
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