Title: $1 Trillion Motherlode of Lithium and Gold Discovered in Afghanistan - MINING.COM
Headings: $1 Trillion Motherlode of Lithium and Gold Discovered in Afghanistan
$1 Trillion Motherlode of Lithium and Gold Discovered in Afghanistan
Obstacles to Development
Preparations Already Underway

Content: $1 Trillion Motherlode of Lithium and Gold Discovered in Afghanistan - MINING.COM
$1 Trillion Motherlode of Lithium and Gold Discovered in Afghanistan
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. 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 BlackBerrys. Obstacles to Development
1. Investment Risks
While it would 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. U.S. officials have held meetings with large listed miners about extracting deposits but the [present] huge investment risks mean the established players are unlikely to be leaping on the opportunity [any time soon]. 2. Security Risks
The security risks make an investment by one of the big listed miners highly implausible judging by their behaviour elsewhere. Many have only just begun to operate in Western African nations that emerged from civil war several years ago. Smaller startup miners may have more appetite for the mix of risk and reward but the recent suspension of licences from Canadian miner First Quantum Minerals Ltd. in the Democratic Republic of Congo, threatening a US$1-billion investment, is a sign of how difficult projects can be. 3.