Another important large mine is the Hajigak iron mine, situated in Bamyan province in central Afghanistan, 130 km. west of Kabul. It is the largest of several iron deposits within this area.
“The Hajigak iron-ore district (1-21-34) lies in the Lobe Baba Ridge made up of Proterozoic metatmorphosed volcanogenous-carbonate rocks and Plaleozoic volcanogenous – shaly and carbonate strata. In the district there is a group of iron deposits and occurrences of the same type, Hajigak deposit being the most significant among them. All the deposits belong to a formation of stratiform metamorophosed hematite-magnetite ores. These occur in a zone of a major fault of north-east trend cutting Proterozic green schists, marbles and dolomites. The Hajigak deposit studied insufficiently comprises sixteen conformable iron ore lenses and sheets, forming a zone of approximately one kilometer in width and over 10 km in extension. The Hajigak deposit is composed of primary and semi-oxidized ores, the oxidized zone reaching a thickness of 100 meters. The primary ore consists of magnetite and hematite with irregularly disseminated by siderite, calcite, quartz, rarely plagioclase, barite and actinolite. The pyrite-magnetite ore contains 56.24-68.80 percent (av. 61.30% iron, including up to 5 % pyrite-associated iron”. For more information see [58].
Afghan-Soviet, Afghan-British geologists and USGS explorations on the geology of Hajigak iron mine can be found everywhere. These studies and some of other geologists suggests that the mine is formed by volcanic, submarine-exhalative, metosomatic skarn, or metamorphic or combination of two or several of them. The north-west of the this mine is hosted as formations as Jawkol Formation with Middle Proterozoic age, Awband Formation together with the underlying Kab Formation are hosted as Upper Proterozoic age and other Formations, se Fig (10). (Click to enlarge).
This mine is exceptionally important in relation to the speedy development of the country, because of the nearby presence of coal mines. The coal may be conveniently used to melt the iron, being important for the production of industrial products for the World market. Local production and development would in turn generate economic growth to be used for education and cultural development, in the end to foster a new independent policy for the country. All these are the goals that relate to mining resources in Afghanistan and similar countries.
For quantity of the strata beds of iron in the rock hosted, see above (Fig. 10).
The ignorant and self-serving administration of the present Karzai regime (2011) is proving a disaster again and again. For example, the bargain with Chinese companies concerning the Aynak copper mine in which the Karzai regime sold for $88 billion coppers worth for only $3 billion! It is not just the present economic injury to people - this regime sold out for almost nothing the future of the country and its people, its economic potential, knowledge, culture and political development! The conclusion is that the administration of this regime must not be making further deals concerning the mining resources of the country until the importance of the geological resources are fully determined and recognised by the people.
At present (8/9/2011), Afghanistan Ministry of Mines announced that the preparatory work for the extraction of large iron ore of Hajigak, in the Bamyan province, will begin within two months. According to available statistics, the nearly two billion tons of iron ore is in place. Afghan officials say that the extraction of the mine will provide three hundred million dollars annually to Afghanistan and also create work for more than thirty thousand people. Once again, the winner of the 21 applying companies is a Chinese company. About this auction, the deputy Minister of Mines, Mr. Abduljalil Jamrany, said that out of the 21 companies, six companies from China, France, America, Great Britain, Pakistan, and Iran are chosen for the final auction. Mr. Jamrany, added that the auction will end this month (September 2011) and that one of the six companies will be officially assigned with the right to mine and extract the iron [60].
The Hajigak mine is about 16 km. long and 550 meters deep. According to initial estimates, it would take about 180 years to extract all the iron from this mine. It means that during this period the Afghan side would take $54 billion out of about £ 285.4 billion ($ 455 billion)!
This contract, and maybe other contracts concerning oil-gas, coal fields, and the Aynak copper mine, are just bad business use of very important economic resources. If the government does not change their views but only look upon the mines of Afghanistan with a one dimensional perspective (only auction), so very soon these mines will become empty like in Africa, and the money ($300 or 400 million per year) which the Karzai government receives, may be used as part of the remuneration of the government. If it will not be use as remuneration, these figures are not real!
An American geologist Jack Medlin (USGS) said: “This is a country that has no mining culture. They have had some small artisanal mines, but now there could be some very, very large mines that will require more than just a gold pan.”
In addition to the large deposits of copper and iron is also found other important economic minerals like niobium, a soft metal used in producing superconducting steel, as well as rare earth-elements and large gold deposits. Among the minerals deposits is found lithium which is a metallic form and has a silvery light. The lithium is used for batteries that can be recharged by applying power to the battery. The lithium deposit is so large that an internal Pentagon memo suggests that Afghanistan could become the ‘Saudi Arabia of lithium’, which also makes one suspect that the USGS is refraining on purpose from specifying the worth of this item in the figure below (Click to enlarge).
I worry that money from Afghanistan Mine Minister’s new auction plan (September 2011) for energy resources (like oil, gas fields, and coal mines) will be misused like money gained from other sources. To realize the substance of these resources, please look at the results of AGS, BGS and USGS researchers in Afghanistan!
The main problem of the head employees in the Karzai regime is that their primary knowled of these mines are from images; they need to know that these resources are not only for fuel! Today you can use new knowledge and technologies for each of these to produce many, many things. For example: Most plastic products are related to crude oil, and vast types of products are covered by gas, likewise with coal, and so on. All this ignorance is due to the corruption system of the regime, because the ministers of the regime are not professionals in theirs positions.
---
[58] Geology and Mineral Resources of Afghanistan. Book 2 Mineral Resources of Afghanistan. Report Series, Published by British Geological Survey (BGS) 2008.
[59] Afghanistan Geological Survey (AGS) and British Geological Survey (BGS) in-http://www.bgs.ac.uk/AfghanMinerals/docs/Hajigak_A4.pdf.
[60] BBC news 8/9/2011.
[61] http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1286464/US-discovers-natural-desposits-gold-iron-copper-lithium-Afghanistan.html.
afgeopol@gmail.com
“The Hajigak iron-ore district (1-21-34) lies in the Lobe Baba Ridge made up of Proterozoic metatmorphosed volcanogenous-carbonate rocks and Plaleozoic volcanogenous – shaly and carbonate strata. In the district there is a group of iron deposits and occurrences of the same type, Hajigak deposit being the most significant among them. All the deposits belong to a formation of stratiform metamorophosed hematite-magnetite ores. These occur in a zone of a major fault of north-east trend cutting Proterozic green schists, marbles and dolomites. The Hajigak deposit studied insufficiently comprises sixteen conformable iron ore lenses and sheets, forming a zone of approximately one kilometer in width and over 10 km in extension. The Hajigak deposit is composed of primary and semi-oxidized ores, the oxidized zone reaching a thickness of 100 meters. The primary ore consists of magnetite and hematite with irregularly disseminated by siderite, calcite, quartz, rarely plagioclase, barite and actinolite. The pyrite-magnetite ore contains 56.24-68.80 percent (av. 61.30% iron, including up to 5 % pyrite-associated iron”. For more information see [58].
Afghan-Soviet, Afghan-British geologists and USGS explorations on the geology of Hajigak iron mine can be found everywhere. These studies and some of other geologists suggests that the mine is formed by volcanic, submarine-exhalative, metosomatic skarn, or metamorphic or combination of two or several of them. The north-west of the this mine is hosted as formations as Jawkol Formation with Middle Proterozoic age, Awband Formation together with the underlying Kab Formation are hosted as Upper Proterozoic age and other Formations, se Fig (10). (Click to enlarge).
Fig (10). Stratigraphic and cross- section through the Hajigak iron mine deposit [59].
This mine is exceptionally important in relation to the speedy development of the country, because of the nearby presence of coal mines. The coal may be conveniently used to melt the iron, being important for the production of industrial products for the World market. Local production and development would in turn generate economic growth to be used for education and cultural development, in the end to foster a new independent policy for the country. All these are the goals that relate to mining resources in Afghanistan and similar countries.
For quantity of the strata beds of iron in the rock hosted, see above (Fig. 10).
The ignorant and self-serving administration of the present Karzai regime (2011) is proving a disaster again and again. For example, the bargain with Chinese companies concerning the Aynak copper mine in which the Karzai regime sold for $88 billion coppers worth for only $3 billion! It is not just the present economic injury to people - this regime sold out for almost nothing the future of the country and its people, its economic potential, knowledge, culture and political development! The conclusion is that the administration of this regime must not be making further deals concerning the mining resources of the country until the importance of the geological resources are fully determined and recognised by the people.
At present (8/9/2011), Afghanistan Ministry of Mines announced that the preparatory work for the extraction of large iron ore of Hajigak, in the Bamyan province, will begin within two months. According to available statistics, the nearly two billion tons of iron ore is in place. Afghan officials say that the extraction of the mine will provide three hundred million dollars annually to Afghanistan and also create work for more than thirty thousand people. Once again, the winner of the 21 applying companies is a Chinese company. About this auction, the deputy Minister of Mines, Mr. Abduljalil Jamrany, said that out of the 21 companies, six companies from China, France, America, Great Britain, Pakistan, and Iran are chosen for the final auction. Mr. Jamrany, added that the auction will end this month (September 2011) and that one of the six companies will be officially assigned with the right to mine and extract the iron [60].
In 2010, India terminated its own export of iron ore in order to protect its reserves for future needs. In 2011, India was approaced by president Karzai as a consequence of a new Afghan strategy, and offered the Hajigak mine as a resource. The Indian steel minister is quoted for saying that "We should not sell iron ore to other countries. With steel production in the country bound to go up in the future, we should keep it protected for future needs. We have imposed a duty on iron ore exports; we have made a beginning, we will now have to see how much the duty has impacted iron ore export". (http://www.metalnewsnet.com/Zirconium/974IyL7G915o.html).
President Hamid Karzai's government generously solved the Indian conserns about their iron ore and offered India a new strategic role in Afghanistan by awarding mining rights for the country's biggest iron deposit to a group of seven state-run and private Indian companies that bid with the support of India's government (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-28/afghanistan-awards-most-hajigak-iron-ore-mining-rights-to-indian-group.html).
The Hajigak mine is about 16 km. long and 550 meters deep. According to initial estimates, it would take about 180 years to extract all the iron from this mine. It means that during this period the Afghan side would take $54 billion out of about £ 285.4 billion ($ 455 billion)!
This contract, and maybe other contracts concerning oil-gas, coal fields, and the Aynak copper mine, are just bad business use of very important economic resources. If the government does not change their views but only look upon the mines of Afghanistan with a one dimensional perspective (only auction), so very soon these mines will become empty like in Africa, and the money ($300 or 400 million per year) which the Karzai government receives, may be used as part of the remuneration of the government. If it will not be use as remuneration, these figures are not real!
An American geologist Jack Medlin (USGS) said: “This is a country that has no mining culture. They have had some small artisanal mines, but now there could be some very, very large mines that will require more than just a gold pan.”
In addition to the large deposits of copper and iron is also found other important economic minerals like niobium, a soft metal used in producing superconducting steel, as well as rare earth-elements and large gold deposits. Among the minerals deposits is found lithium which is a metallic form and has a silvery light. The lithium is used for batteries that can be recharged by applying power to the battery. The lithium deposit is so large that an internal Pentagon memo suggests that Afghanistan could become the ‘Saudi Arabia of lithium’, which also makes one suspect that the USGS is refraining on purpose from specifying the worth of this item in the figure below (Click to enlarge).
Fig (11). This figure specifies the locations of economic minerals in Afghanistan [61].
I worry that money from Afghanistan Mine Minister’s new auction plan (September 2011) for energy resources (like oil, gas fields, and coal mines) will be misused like money gained from other sources. To realize the substance of these resources, please look at the results of AGS, BGS and USGS researchers in Afghanistan!
The main problem of the head employees in the Karzai regime is that their primary knowled of these mines are from images; they need to know that these resources are not only for fuel! Today you can use new knowledge and technologies for each of these to produce many, many things. For example: Most plastic products are related to crude oil, and vast types of products are covered by gas, likewise with coal, and so on. All this ignorance is due to the corruption system of the regime, because the ministers of the regime are not professionals in theirs positions.
---
[58] Geology and Mineral Resources of Afghanistan. Book 2 Mineral Resources of Afghanistan. Report Series, Published by British Geological Survey (BGS) 2008.
[59] Afghanistan Geological Survey (AGS) and British Geological Survey (BGS) in-http://www.bgs.ac.uk/AfghanMinerals/docs/Hajigak_A4.pdf.
[60] BBC news 8/9/2011.
[61] http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1286464/US-discovers-natural-desposits-gold-iron-copper-lithium-Afghanistan.html.
afgeopol@gmail.com
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