Afghanistan has abundant mineral resources, including copper, gold, iron ore, lead, marble, nickel, rubies, sulfur, and talc. Construction minerals included clay for bricks, dimension stone, limestone for cement, rock aggregate, and sand and gravel. Poor infrastructure, a shortage of skilled labor, and security problems have been a hindrance to the development and mining of these resources and to investment by local and foreign companies. To rebuild its infrastructure, the country would most likely need to open market opportunities for construction minerals and equipment. The country’s output of construction and other industrial minerals did not keep pace with the strong domestic demand for them.
According to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Afghanistan has significant amounts of undiscovered nonfuel mineral resources. Copper resources (identified and undiscovered) were estimated to be nearly 60 million metric tons (Mt) of copper. The Aynak copper deposit was estimated to contain 12.3 Mt of copper. Iron ore resources (identified) were estimated to be more than 2,200 Mt of ore. The Haji Gak area was the largest unexploited iron ore deposit in Asia with 2,100 Mt of ore. The country has abundant deposits of colored stones and gemstones, including emerald, garnet, kunzite, lapis, peridot, ruby, sapphire, spinel, and tourmaline. Chromite, gold, graphite, magnesite, mercury, potash, sand and gravel, sulfur, and talc are also available for extraction. Afghanistan was estimated to have undiscovered deposits containing 27.5 Mt of potash (Peters, 2007).
http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/country/2008/myb3-2008-af.pdf