Afghanistan is the land of rare minerals.. What about China's share of it?

While the world is preoccupied with the political events taking place in Afghanistan now, another side factor that is slowly creeping into the public consciousness is the precious metals that abound in the country and how the Taliban government exploits this wealth.

The US "oilprice" website said that the value of the untapped mineral resources in Afghanistan was estimated at about one trillion US dollars for years, according to the statistics of the US Geological Survey.

Some Afghan officials have said the actual figure may be 3 times that, as the mountains of Afghanistan contain a wide range of underground wealth, including copper, gold, oil, natural gas, uranium, bauxite, coal, iron ore, rare metals, lithium, chromium, lead, zinc, precious stones, talc, sulfur and stone limestone, gypsum and marble;

Afghanistan found it difficult to benefit from these reserves even before the American invasion 20 years ago, and the situation is still the same even after the withdrawal, because the United States did not engage in efforts to explore for mineral resources during its time in the country, because of the great risks involved.

The site indicated that the mechanism of the Taliban government's exploitation of the country's resources is still unclear, but minerals may appear especially attractive to countries such as China and Russia, because some of them would enhance efforts to transition to renewable energy in the future.

rare metals

Lithium is a core component of electric car batteries, solar panels and wind turbines, and the International Energy Agency expects global demand for lithium to more than 40 times by 2040.

In a special memo dating back to 2010, the US Department of Defense described Afghanistan as “Lithium Saudi Arabia”, which means that this country is as important to the global supply of lithium as Saudi Arabia is to the supply of crude oil, and it was common at that time to use lithium batteries in various electronic devices, But it was not yet clear how much lithium would be needed to power electric cars, which fall within the goals of reducing carbon emissions.

In 2018, a report by the US Institute of Geological Studies indicated that Afghanistan is rich in spodumene, a mineral consisting partly of lithium, but failed to provide an estimate of the country's reserves.

In contrast, records showed that Afghanistan possesses 1.4 million tons of rare earths, which include 17 components used in the manufacture of consumer electronics and military equipment on a large scale.

The value of untapped mineral resources in Afghanistan has been estimated at one trillion US dollars (Reuters)

copper

Early this year, copper prices soared to over $10,000 per metric ton, which was good news for Afghanistan's new rulers.

About 10 years ago, Chinese companies signed contracts to mine one of the world's largest untapped copper deposits in Afghanistan, located in a sparsely populated area in Logar Province, southeast of Kabul.

In 2007, the China Metal Group Company "MCC" (MCC) won the deal to exploit the giant copper ore deposits in the Aynak mine for a period of 30 years, and extracted 11.5 million tons of copper, and the value of the mine reserves is estimated at about 50 billion dollars, based on estimates Previous, however, China's efforts have yielded little result.

Taliban and China

Taliban control may present a barrier to most foreign investors, but China and Russia may be willing to do business with the movement.

For its part, China was quick to announce that it is ready to establish friendly and cooperative relations with Afghanistan, in the wake of the Taliban's takeover of Kabul.

As part of its efforts to dominate the clean energy sector, China has become the most important buyer of metals, is already the world's number one in processing minerals for batteries and other technologies, and has invested in mining projects from around the world such as the Congo.

Frank Fannon, who served as the US assistant secretary of state for energy resources in the Trump administration, sees it as only a matter of time before the Taliban begins cooperating with China, which already dominates the supply chain of vital minerals.

And the website quoted Jin Nakano, a researcher at the International Center for Strategic Studies in Washington, that Afghanistan is richer in mineral resources that are more likely to be developed under a cooperative context between China and the Taliban, than it was during the Western intervention in the country.