Minerial deposits in Afghanistan

[oakranger]

They've known about those deposits since the 70's.

In the 90's the only nation to have vast deposits of lithium and other electronics-making minerals/resources was China..and China (and the US) knew those resources wouldnt last very long. Not so long ago ( i believe 4 months?) the news reported China was preparing to cut back on production of stuff that used those resources which were becoming scarce.

Other Nations that have deposits are already industrialized or are in an advanced stage of industrialization (USA, Europe, Russia, India and some African nations) so the price of the material would be substantially higher than the cheap-labor Chinese mined stuff.

New source is needed.

OH LOOK theres a tons in Afghanistan where there's zero industry, where there's US troops already there and its a nation thats currently in a political vacuum.

how.. convenient.

 

I do not think it was convenient.  US Geologist accidentally discover the survey report of the large mineral deposits in 2002-2003 while going over Afghanistan archives.  We knew what was there but did not know how big it was untill now. 

[Tac]

I dont believe in convenient trillion dollar 'fortunate accidents'

[trax1]

I dont believe in convenient trillion dollar 'fortunate accidents'

I think it just was that they didn't have the technology or the equipment to know just how vast these deposits actually were until now, plus the geologist that did know about the deposits hide all the charts & information on the deposits after the Taliban took control because they didn't want to make the Taliban any stronger then it was.

You can hope that this kick starts there economy and they start being able to build a better infrastructure for the country, and then start to see a trickle down effect. 

[Eagler]

so you think the Russians did not know?

[oakranger]

so you think the Russians did not know?

The Russian knew because they are the ones that did the survey in 1980s.  As trax1 said, some of the Afghanistan geologist took the report and hide them, afraid that Taliban may destroy them. 

[trax1]

Yeah the Russians knew, it's just no one knew exactly how much of the minerals were in these deposits until the US geologist did some advanced surveys in 04, the articles says they flew an "old Navy Orion P-3 over 70% of the country using advanced gravity and magnetic measuring equipment attached to it", then in 07 they came back with even more advanced equipment using an "old British bomber equipped with instruments that offered a three-dimensional profile of mineral deposits below the earth’s surface", the article also said "It was the most comprehensive geologic survey of Afghanistan ever conducted", so it sounds like the Russians didn't know the extent of the deposits, only that they existed.

[Grind]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/14/world/asia/14minerals.html?no_interstitial
This is a brilliant idea to get that country out of the dark ages and into the real world. With the vast wealth this place has, maybe this is the answer to their problems.
My hat's off to U.S. government for actually using their heads for once.
 

I'm thinking thats probably one of the reasons why the US is really there... kinda like the US being in Iraq or BP being in the Gulf of Mexico.  It's also highly doubtful the Afghans will come out of the stoneage while "their" religous fanatics are still hell-bent on controlling their country.  (Disclaimer)... IMHO.

[trax1]

I'm thinking thats probably one of the reasons why the US is really there...

But no one even knew that the mineral deposits were this large until '07, '04 at the earliest.  People knew that Afghanistan had mineral deposits because of the Russian charts & surveys, but the only people who knew about those charts were geologists in Afghanistan who were keeping the charts in hiding from the Taliban, they were only shown to US geologists after we had ousted the Taliban.   

[Grind]

But no one even knew that the mineral deposits were this large until '07, '04 at the earliest.     

Call me paranoid, I just do not believe that.   

[druski85]

Call me paranoid, I just do not believe that.   

 

Really though, from a cost / benefit ratio this conflict would make no sense, were it based on the economics of this survey.  I'd be happy to go into it in greater detail via pm, but fear the skuzzy stick to further elaborate in this post.   

[oakranger]

It really doesn't matter whether we knew it or not, It is out to the public now.  Next question is what to do next.  

[Baitman]

Fly all the surveys you want but until you have core in your hand it is still all wild speculation.

[trax1]

Call me paranoid, I just do not believe that.   

Yeah it still wouldn't make any kind of fiscal sense, you know what this war has cost to maintain for this long, way more then anything we would ever make back in mineral deposits, plus the majority of the money from these mineral deposits will go to Afghanistan & what ever country wins the bid to mine the deposits, not the U.S.  Like I said we may see money from these deposits, but nothing close to what we've spent on the war.

[oakranger]

Yeah it still wouldn't make any kind of fiscal sense, you know what this war has cost to maintain for this long, way more then anything we would ever make back in mineral deposits, plus the majority of the money from these mineral deposits will go to Afghanistan & what ever country wins the bid to mine the deposits, not the U.S.  Like I said we may see money from these deposits, but nothing close to what we've spent on the war.

I am sure some U.S mining company will have operations there. 

[trax1]

I am sure some U.S mining company will have operations there. 

Oh of course, thats why I said that we will see some money from these deposits, but just nothing close to an amount to justify invading the country to get our hands on the mineral deposits like Grind was suggesting.