KABUL (SW) – Officials from the de-facto Ministry of Mines and Petroleum (MoMP) have announced that extraction is currently underway at 180 small and large mines across Afghanistan.
During a briefing on the ministry’s achievements over the past year, spokesperson Homayun Afghan highlighted that over 10 billion Afghanis have been invested in 167 small mines, while investment opportunities worth 8 billion dollars have been created in 13 large mines.
“The investments will proceed gradually, contingent upon final processing being conducted within Afghanistan,” he said.
In the past year alone, approximately 1,700 emerald mining areas in Panjshir have been registered, resulting in the issuance of 575 licenses for legal extraction.
According to the ministry’s statistics, around 78,000 carats of emeralds from Panjshir were sold through open bidding to local and foreign investors for a total of $5.5 million last year.
Furthermore, contracts have been signed for a 14 square kilometer salt mine in the Andkhoy district of Faryab, valued at 24 million dollars for a 15-year period, and a stone mine in Takhar worth about 500 million Afghanis with a local investor.
Homayun Afghan also mentioned that approximately 150,000 people are currently employed in Afghanistan’s mining sector, primarily in coal, gemstone extraction, and small mines. “Significant employment is also generated in 13 large mines where contracts were signed last year, alongside ongoing projects such as Mes Aynak and oil and gas extraction.”
The ministry officials reported that oil extraction is currently ongoing in 21 areas in the regions of Qashqari, Angot, and Aq-Darya, yielding 1,300 tons of crude oil daily. Contracts for drilling gas wells number 33 and 35 in the Yatim Taq area of Jowzjan have been signed with a Turkish company.
However, challenges remain, as the “mafia’s influence” in the mining sector has not been fully eradicated. Financial and Administrative Deputy Minister Hossamuddin Saberi acknowledged ongoing mafia activity, particularly in gold extraction.
“Our teams have managed to limit their operations, and we hope to control them completely. While we cannot say that mafia activity in the mines is 100% under control, we are making significant progress and are determined to ensure they no longer have access to Afghanistan’s mining resources.”
The MoMP also highlighted its achievements over the past year, including the development of legal frameworks for gemstone extraction, the distribution of 52 mineral processing licenses, progress on 12 key projects across various provinces, the drafting of mining laws, hydrocarbon laws, and the TAPI project expropriation law, surveying 647 mining areas, creating 41 procedural guidelines, and signing 8 memoranda of understanding with local and international organizations.
