Introduction of Afghanistan’s Iron mines

Afghanistan is considered a rich country in terms of having massive iron riches, with the country’s ore resources has been listed among the biggest iron mines of the world.

In the light of investigation and exploration, Afghanistan is known a rich country because of the existence of precious stones of iron and other natural resources.

Eight reserves of iron ore has been found in BabaMountains, with Hajigak ironmine 45 kilometres southeast of Bamyanis of great importance. The reserves of iron in Hajigak mine are estimated at about 1.8 billions of tonnes.

1 – HajigakIron mine of Bamyan:

This mine is located in the highlands of Hindukush mountains in close proximity of Hajigak pass in east of Bamyan province. It is located 100 kilometres northwest of Kabul, the capital.   

For the first time,Hajigak mine was detected in 1911 which was followed by several studies by leading geologists. Exploratory researches of the mine were conducted by foreign experts from Britain, German, France and Russia.

Detailed study was carried out by Russians in 1970s. In 1980, its exploratory research was completed with its extracting plans arranged. But the idea could not be materialized due to persistent unrest and lack of needed infrastructure of mines in Afghanistan.

Hajigak is said to be one of the biggest mines of iron ore on regional level. It has 16 kilometres length and 550 meters depth.

Additionally, existence of other riches such as magnesium, barium, nickel, cobalt and silver are found in Hajigak mine. 

According to experts, the coal mines of Dara-i-Souf and Yakawlang located close to the iron mine are good natural resources to be used for forming steel factories there.

For the first time, a contract for the extraction of the mine was inked between the Ministry of Mines and two Indian and Canadian companies in 2012.

It is said that extraction of the precious iron from the mine would take almost 180 years.

2 – Sia Dara Iron mine:

After Hajigak, Sia Daramine is said to be the second largest mine of iron ore in the country. It is located 22 kilometres from the provincial capital in Yakawlang district.

The assessments conducted so far showed existence of billions of tonnes of iron and coal in the mine and its reserves are likely to be more than the Hajigak mine.

Stones of Sia Dara mine are composed of 62 percent iron and are believed to cover 30kilometres of area.

The officials of the Ministry of Minessaid various kinds of chemicals are available in Sia Dara mine which could be used in generating high quality steel.

A year ago, the ministry had said, that the mine would be set for bidding process in the near future.

3 – KhakrizIronsmine of Kandahar:

This mine is located 100 kilometres north of Kandahar City in Khakriz district. Assessments showed that there are more than 3 million tonnes of iron reserves in the mine. Composition of copper in its stones is 61.4 percent, with other minerals.

4 –Siajar Iron mine:

Located in northeastern Badakhshan province, with its inorganic solids are composed of hematite and magnetite

Thickness of its inorganic solids reached to 2-5, 3 with 150 meters length. Iron reserves in Siajar mine are expected between 40 to 45 million tonnes.

5 – Formarkh Iron mine:

Located in Badakhshan province, inorganic solids of the mine have 2-35 metres thickness, 1,000 metres length and 350 metres depth. Iron reserves in the mine are said to be about 35 millions of tonnes.

6 – Zirak Iron mine:

This mine is located in northern Baghlan province. Three layers of inorganic solids of hematite, magnetite with 12-75 metres thickness and 90-450 metres length have been found there. Iron reserves in the mine are believed at around 20 million tonnes.

About 50,000 kilometres square of site close to the mine is covered by ore stones like gravels.

 7 – Kish Iron mine:

This mine is located in central Bamyan province. Five mineral bodies with 10-200 metres thickness, 300-1,300 length had been detected in the site close to the mine.

Stones of the mine are composed of 48-62.9 percent iron, 3.1 percent magnesium, 1.5 percent barium, 0.28 percent P2O5, 0.19 percent cobalt and 0.03-0.92 percent sulfur. Studies showed there will be 117 million tonnes reserves of iron inside the mine.