KABUL (Pajhwok): Nineteen Afghan officials are being trained on international humanitarian mine-sweeping communication in the Jiangsu province of China, a media report said on Tuesday.
The individuals are being trained as a part of trust-building measures (CBMs) under the Istanbul Process. The participants will play an active role in sweeping mines and promoting post-war reconstruction.
KABUL (Pajhwok): The Wolesi Jirga on Wednesday decided the joint lower house commission would debate again a new draft mining law before it was placed before the general session for approval.
The existing mining law containing 12 chapters and 105 articles was approved on November 18, 2008 by a joint parliamentary commission before being signed by the president.
KABUL (Pajhwok): Afghanistan has vast lithium reserves, just like other natural resources, but the illegal excavation and smuggling of the silver-white has been unchecked due to the poor strategy of the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum, officials and experts say.
Prof. Amir Mohammad Musazai, head of the Geology Faculty at Kabul University, described lithium as a precious element that was rarely found in different shapes. It is lighter than water and has silver and white colours.
PUL-I-KHUMRI (Pajhwok): Two people were killed and a third became unconscious after inhaling the carbon monoxide gas inside a coal mine in northern Baghlan province, an official said on Tuesday.
Abdul SattarAtif, the Nahrain district chief, told Pajhwok Afghan News the three men were excavating coal from the Chinarak Mine when the incident occurred. The dead were brothers.
Eng. Abdur Rahman Afghan, coal enterprise head in the north, said the Ministry of Mine and Petroleum was duty-bound to take necessary measure for the protection of workers.
KABUL (Pajhwok): Illegal and non-professional excavation of a mine site, without the knowledge of what kinds of reserves the mine contain, in the Chilan valley on the outskirts of Gorband district in central Parwan province, has been underway for the last one year, an official said.
Other districts such as Syagard, SurkhParsa and Shinwari were located close to the Ghorband valley where militants have greater sway.
KABUL (Pajhwok): Mines Minister Mohammad Akbar Barakzai on Monday said recent geological surveys and maps by the US Geological Survey to locate and identify Afghanistan’s myriad rich mineral deposits would help attract investments in the sector.
Barakzai, who examined the results of a "hyperspectral imaging" and surveys during a recent visit to the US, told Pajhwok these maps could help know size and variety of Afghanistan's mineral wealth and position
AIBAK (Pajhwok): Excavation work on 50 coalmine tunnels of Dara-e-Suf in northern Samangan province have been halted because of looming threat to workers’ lives, officials said Wednesday.
The tunnels were dug by unskilled individuals, which posed great threat to workers working there, Ahmad Ali Hussaini, district administrative chief, told Pajhwok Afghan News.
He said the decision to stop work on the mine was made after technical and professional engineers conducted a survey of the tunnels. The survey said the tunnel could collapse any time.
KABUL (Pajhwok): Officials of Afghanistan Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (AEITI) informed on Thursday they were striving hard to get membership of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) this year.
It merits mention that the EITI is an international standard body that ensures transparency around countries’ oil, gas and mineral resources.
Mirwais Sara, head of AEITI, said the purpose behind AEITI was to ensure transparency in the vital mining sector of the country, saying that the organization was working solely independently.
KABUL (Pajhwok): Illegal excavation of the Sabzak coalmine in western Herat province has been inflicting a loss of millions of afghanis on the national exchequer annually, lawmakers and provincial council members allege.
Public representatives from the province claim residents had serious reservations about government’s decision to award a contract for the mine to the Khoshak Company.
The contract was signed between Ibrahim Adil, former minister of mines and petroleum, and Didar Ali, head of the Khoshak Company, in September 2006. Its validity period is a decade.
