U.S. Identifies Vast Riches of Minerals in Afghanistan - NYTimes.com
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/14/world/asia/14minerals.html

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.

RT @kantandesu: NYタイムズにすごい記事が出た。アフガニスタンには1兆ドル規模の鉄、銅、コバルト、金、リチウムなどの鉱物資源が眠る。アフガニスタンはリチウムのサウジアラビアになれる、と書いている。理由はタリバンではなかったのだ…。恐ろし。http://ny ...

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.

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.

American officials fear resource-hungry China will try to dominate the development of Afghanistan..Afghanistan has never had much heavy industry before, it has little or no history of environmental protection..The Pentagon task force has already started trying to help the Afghans set up a system to deal w/ mineral development. Internatl accounting firms that have expertise in mining contracts have been hired to consult w/ the Afghan Ministry of Mines, & technical data is being prepared to turn over to multinational mining companies & other potential foreign investors. The Pentagon is helping Afghan officials arrange bids on mineral rights by next fall..In 2004, American geologists, stumbled across old charts and data at the library of the Afghan Geological Survey in Kabul that hinted at major mineral deposits in the country. The data had been collected by Soviet mining experts during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s, but cast aside when the Soviets withdrew in 1989.

"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."

amazing how a team of Pentagon officials and American geologists found all these resources

RT @mikewhills @jonnyrichards Cud discovery of $1trn worth of minerals turn Afghanistan into 'Saudi Arabia of lithium' http://nyti.ms/bbGY05