Afghanistan has over 1,400 mineral fields, containing barite, chromite, coal, copper, gold, iron ore, lead, natural gas, petroleum, precious and semi-precious stones, salt, sulfur, lithium, talc, and zinc, among many other minerals. Gemstones include high-quality emeralds, lapis lazuli, red garnet and ruby.
Iron is the most abundant of Afghanistan's valuable metals.
Afghanistan does sit atop huge deposits of copper, iron, marble, talc, coal, lithium, chromite, cobalt, gold, lapis lazuli, gemstones, and more—making Afghanistan one of the world's most resource-rich countries on paper.
According to estimates, apart from oil, Afghanistan is estimated to have 1-3 trillion dollars' worth of rare earth and other minerals.
Afghanistan possesses a wealth of nonfuel minerals whose value has been estimated at more than US$1 trillion. For millennia the country was renowned for its gemstones – rubies, emeralds, tourmalines and lapis lazuli.
Afghanistan is rich in resources like copper, gold, oil, natural gas, uranium, bauxite, coal, iron ore, rare earths, lithium, chromium, lead, zinc, gemstones, talc, sulphur, travertine, gypsum and marble.
Mohammad Rasool Aqab, a senior official at the Afghan Ministry of Mines and Petroleum estimated the rocks “contained up to 30 per cent of lithium”. They were “secretly” extracted from Nuristan and Kunar, two of the several Afghan provinces along the border with Pakistan, he added.
Unsurprisingly, China has the highest reserves of rare earth minerals at 44 million MT. The country was also the world's leading rare earths producer in 2022 by a long shot, putting out 210,000 MT. Despite its top position, China remains focused on ensuring that its reserves remain elevated.
Afghanistan has over 1,400 mineral fields, containing barite, chromite, coal, copper, gold, iron ore, lead, natural gas, petroleum, precious and semi-precious stones, salt, sulfur, lithium, talc, and zinc, among many other minerals. Gemstones include high-quality emeralds, lapis lazuli, red garnet and ruby.
The primary global source of REEs is China, which accounts for approximately 70% of the global REEs mining output. China's dominance in rare earth metal production by country comes largely from the Bayan Obo Mining District in Inner Mongolia, the world's largest known REEs deposit.
By 2050, the US expects to import more than 80 percent of its petroleum from this region and much of that oil would be extracted from beneath the deserts of Afghanistan and Pakistan. The struggle for control of this last great deposit of oil has been called “the Great Game.”
“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 ...
Afghanistan Exports - values, historical data and charts - was last updated on July of 2023. In Afghanistan, exports account for around 20 percent of GDP. Afghanistan main exports are: carpets and rugs (45 percent of total exports); dried fruits (31 percent) and medicinal plants (12 percent).
1. Rhodium. Rhodium is a rare, silvery-white metal that belongs to the platinum group of elements. It has a high melting point, excellent resistance to corrosion, and is known for its catalytic properties.
Lapis lazuli is found in limestone in the Kokcha River valley of Badakhshan province in north-eastern Afghanistan, where the Sar-i Sang mine deposits have been worked for more than 6,000 years.
A decade earlier, the U.S. Defense Department, guided by the surveys of American government geologists, concluded that the vast wealth of lithium and other minerals buried in Afghanistan might be worth $1 trillion, more than enough to prop up the country's fragile government.
“Increasing hunger, natural disasters, unemployment, a banking and liquidity crisis, rights-violating restrictions on women and girls, and the lack of functioning economy mean Afghans are facing a multitude of simultaneous crises,” – Zuhra Wardak, IRC deputy director for ethics, compliance and gender in Afghanistan.
Afghanistan has significant deposits of coal. Out of the country's 80 coal mines, 17 are operational, with most located in central and northern Afghanistan.
The Democratic Republic of Congo is widely considered to be the richest country in the world regarding natural resources; its untapped deposits of raw minerals are estimated to be worth in excess of U.S. $24 trillion.
Australia is home to some of the largest recoverable critical minerals deposits on earth. This includes high-quality cobalt, lithium, manganese, rare earth elements, tungsten and vanadium.
As of today, China accounts for 63 percent of the world's rare earth mining, 85 percent of rare earth processing, and 92 percent of rare earth magnet production.
Concerningly, production of these rare earth minerals has remained concentrated. China has a dominant hold on the market—with 60% of global production and 85% of processing capacity.
Out of the 26 million tons of global lithium reserves as per the U.S. Geological Survey published in January 2023, Chile was home to the largest lithium reserves base with 9.3 million tons of proven lithium reserves. Australia was ranked #2 based on the lithium reserves with a reserve base of nearly 6.2 million tons.
Chile holds the world's largest lithium reserves and is the world's second-largest producer. Lithium is currently produced from hard rock or brine mines.