Posted on 09/06/2014 7:27:20 AM PDT by GonzoII
Despite being one of the poorest nations in the world, Afghanistan may be sitting on one of the richest troves of minerals in the world, valued at nearly $1 trillion, top science news website Live Science reports quoting US scientists.
Afghanistan, a country nearly the size of Texas, is loaded with minerals deposited by the violent collision of the Indian subcontinent with Asia. The US Geological Survey (USGS) began inspecting what mineral resources Afghanistan had after US-led forces drove the Taliban from power in the country in 2004. As it turns out, the Afghanistan Geological Survey staff had kept Soviet geological maps and reports up to 50 years old or more that hinted at a geological gold mine.
In 2006, US researchers flew airborne missions to conduct magnetic, gravity and hyperspectral surveys over Afghanistan. The magnetic surveys probed for iron-bearing minerals up to 6 miles (10 kilometres) below the surface, while the gravity surveys tried to identify sediment-filled basins potentially rich in oil and gas. The hyperspectral survey looked at the spectrum of light reflected off rocks to identify the light signatures unique to each mineral. More than 70 percent of the country was mapped in just two months.
The surveys verified all the major Soviet finds. Afghanistan may hold 60 million tons of copper, 2.2 billion tons of iron ore, 1.4 million tons of rare earth elements such as lanthanum, cerium and neodymium, and lodes of aluminum, gold, silver, zinc, mercury and lithium. For instance, the Khanneshin carbonatite deposit in Afghanistan's Helmand province is valued at $89 billion, full as it is with rare earth elements.
(Excerpt) Read more at thedailystar.net ...
That isn’t counting gem materials and mineral specimens. Afghanistan has been a well known source for Lapis Lazuli for a very long time.
Who’s going to get it out for them?
Except they will [probably use it for more Jihad since Zero is going to bug out and the Taliban will be back in charge in months...
Yeah, well we have heard this one before and years ago was in the news about us needing to help the Aghanis so we could get our hands on this stuff.
Carpet flyers, camel jockeys and sheep humpers live today as they did 1400 years ago. What fool thinks they can become natural resource miners and join the 21st century world wide financial market?
Prior to WWII, the Japanese lived much like they did 1,000 years ago. It can happen to Afghanistan too, but it would take the same circumstances that the Japanese faced, utter defeat and having their worldview shattered beyond repair, then built up.
That’s 1-2 years of funding US government deficit spending in exchange for a whole lot of digging.
Even plate techtonics didn't believe in an equal distribution of the wealth.
Why else start those wars there? The Taliban? LOL!
Our government can print and spend that much money in a few weeks. Who needs minerals?
Poppies pay better and you don’t have to excavate for those.
That’s what I was thinking. If we could just find 16 more of those.... and take them from their owner...... then we could pay off our debt.
Plus , of course, the enhanced value of using the raw materials to make stuff.
They wouldn’t know what to do with the wealth. The country would continue to be 4th world with a tiny number of people controlling the new wealth and 98% of the population still enslaved by poverty and Islam.
$1,000,000,000,000.00? Congress can spend that in six months and have nothing to show for it.
THEY’ve been putting this crap out for years.
Anybody read “The Dogs of War” by Forsythe?
The movie was crap; the book a decent read.
“No Blood For Minerals!” *SMIRK*
I respectfully disagree. Japan started their military modernization in 1868, built its first battleship in 1909, its first aircraft factory in 1911, and its first aircraft carrier in the 1920’s. And during the decade of the 1930’s they were significantly ahead of the U.S. in all classes of military technology.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.