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Iran proposes investment in Afghan iron ore project

24th March, 2018 · admin 16 Comments

afg_and_iranPress TV
March 24, 2018

Afghanistan says Iran has asked to extract iron ore from a mine in Herat but the two neighbors have yet to reach an agreement on where to process it.

Iran wants to transfer the extracted materials to an ore processing plant on its soil across the border but Afghanistan is opposed to the idea, Tolo News TV quoted acting minister of mines Nargis Nehan as saying Saturday.

“We have a policy based on which extracted mineral resources should be processed inside Afghanistan,” the broadcaster quoted her as saying.

The Sangan mine which Iran is interested to invest in is shared by the two countries but Tehran has already started tapping its part of the reserves.

“Iran is interested to extract the mineral resources in Afghanistan as it needs raw materials for its machinery,” Nehan said.

Earlier this month, Iran’s Ambassador in Kabul Mohammad Reza Bahrami said the two countries had started talks on Iranian investment in Afghanistan’s mining sector.

“We have held talks with Afghanistan’s government on investment in mines in the country, particularly the Sangan mine,” he said.

Sangan has been branded as the “South Pars” of Iran’s steel industry, drawing a comparison with a giant gas reservoir that straddles the territorial waters of Iran and Qatar.

According to state mines and metals holding company IMIDRO chairman Mehdi Karbasian, of the 2.7 billion tonnes of iron ore reserves in Iran, one billion tonnes are in Sangan which has already used up $1 billion of investment to operate.

In 2015, Karbasian said five domestic consortia and another consortium comprised of two Chinese and four Iranian firms had undertaken to provide investment.

Some of the purchases for the project were made from Italian foundry equipment maker Danieli SpA before the Europeans intensified sanctions on Iran in 2011.

After the lifting of the sanctions in 2016, Finland’s engineering group Outotec was awarded an 11 million euro contract by China’s Shangdong Province Metallurgical Engineering Co (SDM) for the delivery of the dewatering process equipment to the second phase of the Sangan iron concentrate project.

Interest in Afghanistan

Afghanistan – a landlocked country with an economy worth about $20 billion a year – is rich in mineral resources and its mining sector has aroused a lot of interest even though much of the basic data dates back to the Soviet occupation in the 1980s.

A United States Geological Survey study has estimated potential value of Afghanistan’s deposits as much as $1 trillion. However, latest geological studies by Afghan officials hint at figures three times larger.

Gold, silver and platinum are some of the precious elements identified in Afghanistan but the country has also been labeled as the potential “Saudi Arabia of lithium” thanks to deposits of the raw material used in phone and electric car batteries.

Furthermore, the country has significant quantities of iron ore, uranium, zinc, tantalum, bauxite, coal, natural gas and copper which is increasingly becoming rare across the globe.

Last August, Reuters said US President Donald Trump was eyeing Afghanistan’s mineral wealth to help pay for a 16-year war that have already cost $117 billion.

The US is not alone in seeking a piece of the cake in Afghanistan. Last year, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said his country was interested in Afghanistan’s large deposits of lithium.

China acquired a 30-year lease on the Mes Aynak copper mine for around $3 billion in 2008 but the project has been plagued by delays due to contractual wrangling.

Posted in Economic News, Iran-Afghanistan Relations | Tags: Herat, Lithium, Natural Resources, rare minerals |
« Saleh compares safe zones deal for Taliban to second Durand Line treaty
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16 thoughts on “Iran proposes investment in Afghan iron ore project”

  1. Baghlani says:
    March 24, 2018 at 5:53 pm

    *I true; then it means that the Iranians will be joining to take full advantage of the highlly-profit “war-bonanzas”.

  2. Baghlani says:
    March 24, 2018 at 5:54 pm

    Yes:
    HIGHLY PROFITABLE “WAR BONANZAS”.

  3. Baghlani says:
    March 24, 2018 at 6:10 pm

    If it is the case;
    then
    we
    must all
    pray earnestly
    for the proper leadership skills in Islamic nationalism

  4. Baghlani says:
    March 24, 2018 at 6:12 pm

    Typing error:
    .
    Meant to say proper leaderships in Islamic “countries”.

  5. Baghlani says:
    March 24, 2018 at 6:19 pm

    The Western warmonger will then be able to radicalize both sides under the name of; so called, “Shia and Sunni” false doctrines to creat among all Muslims.
    .
    You can easily see the evidence of that, already occurring, all over the Islamic countries.

  6. Baghlani says:
    March 24, 2018 at 6:22 pm

    Meant to say, “creat tensions and animosities” among regular folks in Islamic countries.

  7. Baghlani says:
    March 24, 2018 at 6:23 pm

    BETTER BE CAUTIOUS
    BEFOR
    IT IS TOO LATE !

  8. Baghlani says:
    March 24, 2018 at 6:25 pm

    THE ONLY SOLUTION
    IS
    COMMON GROUNDS.

  9. Baghlani says:
    March 24, 2018 at 6:29 pm

    THE COMMON GROUNDS FOR MUTUAL RESPECT
    AND
    ABOVE ALL FOR THE SAFETY OF REGULAR FOLKS WHO MAKE UP THE MAJORITY.

  10. Baghlani says:
    March 25, 2018 at 12:29 pm

    The war mongers are encouraging and/or turning Muslims against each other- it must be stopped.
    .
    Otherwise; all our good regular folks
    will definately suffer.

  11. Baghlani says:
    March 25, 2018 at 12:38 pm

    MUST HELP FIND A
    PEACEFUL ENVIRONMENT
    FOR ALL !
    .
    OTHERWISE, SENSELESS
    CYCLES OF HATRED AND DESTRUCTION
    WILL BE IMPOSED AS THE ORDER OF THE DAY
    ON REGULAT INNOCENT GOOD FOLKS.ALL OVER THE COUNTRY.

  12. Baghlani says:
    March 25, 2018 at 3:47 pm

    “ANOTHER
    PERFECT MODEL
    OF
    SELF-SUSTAINED STATE OF ANARCHY IS PEEPETUATED IN THE
    COUNTRY OF CONGO IN AFRICA.
    .
    They don’t give a damn- as long as their interest are intact and not threatened..
    .
    The whole population
    is
    massively oppressed.
    ************
    ******
    ***
    **
    *
    All the neighbors of
    Afghanistan
    are kept
    directly or/and indirectly
    controlled and humiliated-
    *THERE IS NO PRIDE
    IN
    SLAVERY !

  13. Baghlani says:
    March 25, 2018 at 3:56 pm

    THE PEOPLE OF AFGHANISTAN CAN EXPOLIT AND DEVRLOP THEIR OWN MINING INFRASTRUCTURES- THEY DO NOT NEED ANOTHER COUNTRY TO COME IN AT TGE ORDERS OF INVADERS TO EXPLOITE AS THE THIRD PARTY EXPLOITER.
    ***
    **
    *
    ================================
    .
    The •parasitic forces of invaders and their camp-followers
    would do anything to keep all “goofy”
    involved neighbors fed, happy and satisfied on expense of regular folks of Afghanistan.

  14. Baghlani says:
    March 25, 2018 at 4:21 pm

    THE GRAND IDEA IS TO BUILD UP AFGHANISTAN AS A
    BANANA REPUBLIC
    UNDER STRICTLY TIGHT BORDER CONTROLS OF NEIGHBORING COUNTRIES WHOSE LEADERS THEN WOULD BE, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, ECONOMICALLY CONTROLLED LIKE “LITTLE STOOGES”.
    •••••
    •••••
    •••••
    Under the above possible terms and condition
    the people of Afghanistan would be left at the mercy of all sorts if parasites and vultures as the Center of commercial and industrial activities of “WESTERN-IMPOSED BONANZAS”.

  15. Baghlani says:
    March 25, 2018 at 4:35 pm

    As you see, the whole region will be then turned into an economically-enslaved zone and consequently; functional at disgraceful level and status for all people of the region and as an affront and insults to our
    “COMMON ISLAMIC HERITAGE” !

  16. Baghlani says:
    March 25, 2018 at 5:58 pm

    YOU STUPID INVADERS
    WITH YOUR
    STUPID
    DYSFUNCTIONAL
    IDES !

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