U.S. Identifies Vast Mineral Riches in Afghanistan

From the New York Times a hat tip to Shaza.

If I appear down lately I assure you that I am not. I have a lot going on both at work and in my personal life, but nothing I cannot handle. I can retire at any time, but I choose to work. Remember without the Queen The Hive will die. I think I have another 25 good years left in me. Jennifer





U.S. Identifies Vast Mineral Riches in Afghanistan


Tyler Hicks/The New York Times
A bleak Ghazni Province seems to offer little, but a Pentagon study says it may have among the world’s largest deposits of lithium.









WASHINGTON — The United States has discovered nearly $1 trillion in untapped mineral deposits in Afghanistan, far beyond any previously known reserves and enough to fundamentally alter the Afghan economy and perhaps the Afghan war itself, according to senior American government officials.

The previously unknown deposits — including huge veins of iron, copper, cobalt, gold and critical industrial metals like lithium — are so big and include so many minerals that are essential to modern industry that Afghanistan could eventually be transformed into one of the most important mining centers in the world, the United States officials believe.

An internal Pentagon memo, for example, states that Afghanistan could become the “Saudi Arabia of lithium,” a key raw material in the manufacture of batteries for laptops and BlackBerrys.

The vast scale of Afghanistan’s mineral wealth was discovered by a small team of Pentagon officials and American geologists. The Afghan government and President Hamid Karzai were recently briefed, American officials said.