KABUL (SW): Afghanistan’s Ministry of Mines and Petroleum (MoMP) on Monday revealed that irregularities in awarding mining contracts and the lack of a comprehensive strategy in this sector could turn the blessing of huge mineral resources into a curse for the country.
Dawood Shah Saba, the minister was called by the Wolesi Jirga (lower house of the parliament) for a briefing over the important mining sector. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the war-torn country is sitting on minerals namely oil, gas, lithium, uranium, rare earth metals, copper, iron, gold, gemstones and others worth trillions of dollars.
During the era of former President Hamid Karzai, Chinese and Indian state-owned firms expressed particular interest in exploring the Mes Aynak Copper Mine in Logar province and Hajigak Iron Ore mine in central Bamiyan province respectively.
The minister however, said that none of these firms have made any meaningful headway in terms of proceeding towards extraction that could benefit the poor country.
He added that there was no legal hurdle in the way of the government to cancel the contracts.
The “Mes Aynak” or "little copper well" project has been facing strong opposition from an active #SaveMesAynak group that feared the ancient archeological sites in the area might get destroyed if the Chinese firm went on to extract.
The group claims Chinese state-owned Metallurgical Group Corporation plans to open-pit mine that would blowing up and reduce this ancient Buddhist city to rubble.
Saba further added that the Chinese company (MCC) which was awarded the project has sent the feasibility study draft to the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum five and half years after the project was awarded.
According to Saba, the company has not considered the environmental and social effects of the project in their assessment either.
“They (MCC) asked to incorporate a clause that would not oblige them to build a railway line to the mine and not bound them”, he said while making a point about foreign firms eying to simply exploit. “Similar situation is there at the Hajigak mines”, the minister said.
Hajigak Mine is the best known and largest iron oxide deposit in Afghanistan. It is also Asia’s biggest untapped iron ore deposits located in Bamyan Province.
The former President Hamid Karzai’s government awarded the mining rights to Indian state-run and private companies. Three of four blocks at the Hajigak ore deposit were awarded to seven companies that bid with support from India’s government, and the final block was awarded to Canada’s Kilo Goldmines Ltd.
India’s government backed the group led by state-owned Steel Authority of India Ltd. and NMDC Ltd. According to the minister, the Indian firm was showing reluctance to proceed.
“More than three hundred small and large scale mining contracts have been awarded by the MoMP but the ministry actually does not have the capacity to monitor and regulate even hundred of them”, the minister said.
Saba told the house that exploring the bigger mines would do no good to the country either as the ministry lacked the professional skills and knowledge to devise a simple strategy to tap the mines. The Security situation and the mounting threat of the ISIS too were highlighted as major concerns.
Abdul Rauf Ibrahimi, the Speaker of the house, tasked a parliamentary commission to study the situation and devise a strategy to handle it.
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