Afghan mineral resources worth $3-trillion, says minister

Kabul: Hard on the heels of a Pentagon-inspired report that Afghanistan's untapped mineral resources were worth at least $1 trillion, the Afghanistan government's minister for mines has said that at $3 trillion it is actually triple the US estimate. The minister's assertion comes just ahead of a trip to Britain next week where he hopes to attract investors to exploit one of the world's largest iron ore deposits.

Though geologists have been aware for a long period of time that Afghanistan has vast deposits of iron, copper, cobalt, gold and other rare minerals, the Pentagon-inspired report - put out by the The New York Times –for the first time ever put a figure on it. The tag of $1 trillion has startled people around the world.

Minister of mines Wahidullah Shahrani said Thursday that as far as he was aware geological assessments and industry estimates put the worth of minerals at $3 trillion.

''Afghanistan has huge untapped natural energy and mineral resources which have enormous potential for our economic development,'' Shahrani said. ''Ensuring that this is done in the most transparent and efficient way while delivering the greatest value to the country is a priority of the government.''

Ahead of his visit Shahrani gave an assurance that mineral and hydrocarbon laws in the war-torn nation had been updated to meet international standards and care would be taken to ensure that corruption would be eliminated in the award of contracts.

His predecessor was made to exit as accusations flew thick and fast that he had been bribed to the tune of $30 million for the award of a $3 billion contract to the Chinese to tap copper deposits in the country.