Posted on 06/13/2010 6:27:46 PM PDT by americanophile
WASHINGTON — The United States has discovered nearly $1 trillion in untapped mineral deposits in Afghanistan, far beyond any previously known reserves and enough to fundamentally alter the Afghan economy and perhaps the Afghan war itself, according to senior American government officials. 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 United States officials believe.
An internal Pentagon memo, for example, states that Afghanistan could become the “Saudi Arabia of lithium,” a key raw material in the manufacture of batteries for laptops and Blackberries.
The vast scale of Afghanistan’s mineral wealth was discovered by a small team of Pentagon officials and American geologists. The Afghan government and President Hamid Karzai were recently briefed, American officials said.
While it could take many years to develop a mining industry, the potential is so great that officials and executives in the industry believe it could attract heavy investment even before mines are profitable, providing the possibility of jobs that could distract from generations of war.
“There is stunning potential here,” Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander of the United States Central Command, said in an interview on Saturday. “There are a lot of ifs, of course, but I think potentially it is hugely significant.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
China was hoping to corner the rare earth minerals.
I would bet she isn’t too happy about this.
Pffft...1 Trillion dollars is chump change now days, once Obama finds out about this, it will be spent up in no time. Wasteful stimulus Government and Green jobs abound for Afghanistan!
Ping.
How far is China from Afghanistan?
No blood for lithium! / s
Far be it from the Afghans to discover this for themselves.
Imagine if Bush sent mineral drilling teams to the middle of a war that he was escalating.
The left would be freaking out!
NO BLOOD FOR LITHIUM! NO BLOOD FOR LITHIUM!
Next door to the east
What are the odds of that.
They moved in on the gallium arsenide immediately, mined it out, and within weeks of completely exhausting the supply they pulled out of Afghanistan.
dont lose my afghan lapis!
Watch China become the taliban’s new financial backer.
I’ll believe it when I see it. That country’s been there since dirt, and it’s hard to believe it hasn’t been scoured for precious metals for millenia.
Not saying it ain’t so. Just saying, “show me.”
Unobtainium?
They’re in Iraq now glomming onto its oil.
Obama started this war to steal their MINERALS!
NO WAR FOR MINERALS!!!
/s
I worked for Brinkley in Iraq, it was very interesting.
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.