Qashqari oil mine, with ten oil wells, has recently started operation, in the country’s northern province of Sar-e-Pul.
It produces 200 tons of oil, adding $150,000 to the government revenues each day.
Several oil and gas mines have been discovered in various parts of the country, particularly in the northern, western and southern regions. Some areas such as Tajik-Afghan, Amo River in Herat, and some sites in Paktia province are rich with mines.
There are large reserves of still untapped oil and gas in Herat and Paktia provinces. Recently, the Islamic Emirate announced contracts on the extraction of lead in Ghor and iron in Herat provinces which will be very efficient for the strengthening of the country’s fragile economy.
Afghanistan has also large iron and coal mines in Bamyan and Hajigak iron is the largest iron mine of the country and the third largest one in the world. The contract was signed between the former government and an Indian Company but stopped operations due to some certain reasons.
Ashpushta, Karkar and Dara-e-Suf mines in Bamyan are the largest coal mines in Afghanistan that are now extracted in a non-standard way by the private sector. If the Aynak copper mine in Logar and copper mine in Herat provinces which are one of the enriched mines in the region are effectively extracted and exported, they will collect huge revenues for the treasury of the government. In addition, the lapis lazuli mine in Badakhshan, which is the best one in the world, is still illegally extracted and smuggled by the powerful figures and they had captured its revenue for nearly 43 years.
Lapis lazuli was said to be sold in the market for only 100,000 Afg each seven kilograms, while the incompetent governments of Hamid Karzai and Ashraf Ghani failed to control it for the last 20 years.
The same was the story about mines of ruby and gold in Badakhshan and mines of emerald in Panjsher provinces.
Now that the Islamic Emirate is in power in Afghanistan, it is necessary to get rid of these powerful figures and release the mines from their ownership and make bidding contracts with domestic companies that will provide employment opportunities to poverty-stricken people, on one hand and on the other, will help in collecting a lot of revenue to the government. M. Daud
Mining revenues can tackle economic problems
