Afghanistan put its Hajigak iron ore deposit back up for tender on Saturday, after taking it off the market last year, promising security for investors despite a worsening insurgency.
Afghan Mines Minister Wahidullah Shahrani said he hoped production would start by 2014 on what he said was a huge, high-quality ore vein, that offered investors a rare opportunity with reserves estimated to be worth as much as US$350 billion.
Security is likely to be the main concern to potential investors when Shahrani meets them at a conference in New York on Wednesday, with the insurgency at its most violent since the 2001 overthrow of the Taliban government.
PHOTO: AFP
The Hajigak deposit straddles Bamiyan, Parwan and Wardak Provinces, with only Bamiyan relatively peaceful.
Shahrani said that the Aynak copper mine south of the capital, developed by Chinese firms since 2008 and worth about US$43 billion, proved Afghanistan could protect important assets.
The government has a specially trained force to protect mines and other infrastructure, with many of its members drawn from villages surrounding the asset under guard.
“The community has been taking care of the Aynak deposit, even though that is in a very insecure part of the country ... in the last two years there has not been a single incident,” Shahrani told reporters visiting the mountainous region to the west of Kabul where the Hajigak deposit lies.
Villagers from nearby, mostly subsistence farmers, say they would try to protect any investment that brought jobs or infrastructure improvements, such as paved roads.
“Most of the young people have already left to find work, in Kabul or even Pakistan. I would very much like them to be able to stay here,” said Mohammed Sadiq, a 35 year-old farmer from Kotal Sufla village at the base of mountains that form Hajigak.
Shahrani expects the mine to create at least 7,000 direct, long-term jobs and many thousands more working in spin-off industries, such as services, construction and logistics.
“Mining companies know how to operate in insecure areas,” he said.
Expressions of interest are expected by mid-January, and Shahrani hopes to award the tender in next August, with at least two more years of detailed exploration to follow.
He did not say how much investment his government is seeking for the project, but forecast central government revenues of US$300 million to US$400 million per year once the mine reaches full production of an estimated 10 million tonnes a year.
A planned tender for last year was canceled, with the ministry citing the global recession and changes in the world market structure for iron as the key problems, although it came months after corruption allegations were levied against the mining sector in Afghanistan.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique