[Kosh]

See if the people will ever benefit from it

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.

You also realize the real implication for this, right? We're never leaving Afghanistan.

[Nuclear1]

Oh boy...China's gonna be all over this too.

Let the big countries set up the mining operations, then let the Afghans take over from them.  Let them decide for once.

[Kosh]

Oh boy...China's gonna be all over this too.

Let the big countries set up the mining operations, then let the Afghans take over from them.  Let them decide for once.

Way ahead of you

It was here, in the Aynak valley, that al-Qaeda trained and planned for the 9/11 attacks that triggered the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. And it is here, seven years on, that Afghanistan – with the help of British geologists and a Chinese mining company – will lay the foundations of a new economy in the next few weeks.

Somewhere beneath the valley’s floor lies one of the world’s biggest untapped copper deposits, estimated to be worth up to $88_billion (£44 billion) – more than double Afghanistan’s entire gross domestic product (GDP) in 2007. In November, a 30-year lease was sold to the China Metallurgical Group for $3 billion, making it the biggest foreign investment and private business venture in Afghanistan’s history. Last week the Afghan Government approved the contract, clearing the way for the revival of an industry that dates back to Alexander the Great.

This article was written 2 years ago.

[Bobboau]

they recently found a trillion $ worth of lithium.

[Black Wolf]

Sweet. When the government kills our mining industry, i'll go get a job in afghanistan. Danger money FTW.

[The E]

And if you were wondering just why the US spends billions of dollars on an occupation force....

[watsisname]

I wonder what sort of resources they'll find in Antarctica once it all thaws up. :X
Time I invest in accelerating global warming!

[Kosh]

I wonder what sort of resources they'll find in Antarctica once it all thaws up. :X
Time I invest in accelerating global warming!

Probably oil. Antarctica was once a green place that was full of life. All that biomass had to go somewhere.