Afghanistan
will invite global bids to develop four new iron ore and copper deposits,
including a greenfield iron ore mine at Fiyadara estimated to hold half a
billion tonne in reserves in early 2013. It is also expected to invite
companies to pitch for lucrative copper reserves at North Aynak that hold
nearly 8-10 million tonne reserves. “Indian companies have good potential and
they are competitive. We expect to attract both public and private companies
from India to participate in the forthcoming bids in a big way,” mines minister
Wahidullah Shahrani said on the sidelines of the Global Mining Summit 2012
being organised by the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII). The
announcement comes days before the Afghan government is due to complete the
process of evaluation of detailed bids for copper and gold assets at Shaida
deposit. A clutch of public and private sector companies including, Steel
Authority of India Limited (SAIL), Hindustan Copper, National Aluminium Company
(Nalco), MECL, Monnet Ispat & Energy, Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL)
have been shortlisted along with Chinese, British and US firms. “I am not part
of the evaluation committee and hence I cannot comment on it. All I can say is
we will announce it soon,” he said, when asked about the prospects of Indian
companies in that bid.
Last
year, a consortium of six Indian companies had bagged the rights to mine some 2
billion tonnes of iron ore at Hajigak by committing to build a six million tone
steel plant at an investment of over $10 billion, edging out competition from
US, the UK and Canadian firms.“The Indian consortium will start work on the
Hajigak project in January 2013,” Sharani said.
“The
two countries share strong historical ties to which deep economic ties are now
being added. Mining will be the foundation for efficient relations between the
two countries which signed bilateral agreements for co-operation in steel,
coal, fertilisers cement and oil & gas last month,” the Afghan minister
said. Shahrani said Afghanistan is considered as the last frontier in mineral
exploration especially for copper, gold, iron ore, lithium, molybdenum and rare
earth minerals.
“India’s
demand for minerals is being fuelled by its growing construction,
infrastructrre and power generation sector. Our country can be a major source
of raw materials for this, with the mining sector tipped to contribute nearly
40% to the country’s GDP by 2024,” he said.
