Mevlevi Hazrat Yusuf, Director of the Mining and Petroleum Department of Afghanistan’s Ghazni province, said that two Chinese companies aspire to operate the lithium and gold mines in the province.
According to the Taliban news agency Bakhtar, Yusuf made assessments of mining sites throughout the province.
Stating that 25 mines in the province are currently active in production, Yusuf noted that in the last year, 18 new mining sites with marble, sulphur, hard coal and various precious stones have been identified.
Yusuf stated that two Chinese companies have submitted bids for the operation of the lithium mines in Navur district and the gold mines in Mukur district.
Yusuf said that if these investments are realized, they will make a great contribution to the economy of the province.
POST-USA CHINA FOLLOWS AFGHANISTAN’S LITHIUM RESERVES
There are metal deposits such as copper, gold, uranium, bauxite, iron ore, chrome, lead, zinc, coal, soapstone, cottonstone, gypsum, sulfur and marble in Afghanistan.
In addition, Afghanistan has the richest reserves in the world in terms of lithium and other rare metals, but the long-lasting conflict environment in the country negatively affected many economic areas in the country and prevented development in the mining field.
The Taliban administration, on the other hand, invites foreign companies to invest in these areas with the aim of coping with the economic crisis in the country, while Chinese and Russian companies stand out as the most eager investors to operate the mines in the country.
Finally, on January 5, a 25-year contract was signed between the Taliban interim government and the Chinese company CAPEIC to explore and extract oil around the Amu River in northern Afghanistan.
At the signing ceremony of the contract, the Deputy Minister of Mines and Petroleum of the Taliban administration, Shahabeddin Dilaver, and the Chinese Ambassador to Kabul, Wang Yu, stated that this step will strengthen the economy of Afghanistan and the relations between the two countries.
On the other hand, the Taliban administration wants the Wuhan corridor, which opens to China via the Badakhshan province in the north, to turn into an active trade route and expects support from the Chinese government for this. (AA)