Trillion $ find: Afghanistan could become the “Saudi Arabia of lithium,”

June 13, 2010
U.S. Identifies Vast Riches of Minerals in Afghanistan
By JAMES RISEN

WASHINGTON — The United States has discovered nearly $1 trillion in untapped mineral deposits in Afghanistan, far beyond any previously known reserves and enough to fundamentally alter the Afghan economy and perhaps the Afghan war itself, according to senior American government officials.

The previously unknown deposits — including huge veins of iron, copper, cobalt, gold and critical industrial metals like lithium — are so big and include so many minerals that are essential to modern industry that Afghanistan could eventually be transformed into one of the most important mining centers in the world, the United States officials believe.

An internal Pentagon memo, for example, states that Afghanistan could become the “Saudi Arabia of lithium,” a key raw material in the manufacture of batteries for laptops and BlackBerrys.

The vast scale of Afghanistan’s mineral wealth was discovered by a small team of Pentagon officials and American geologists. The Afghan government and President Hamid Karzai were recently briefed, American officials said.

While it could take many years to develop a mining industry, the potential is so great that officials and executives in the industry believe it could attract heavy investment even before mines are profitable, providing the possibility of jobs that could distract from generations of war.

“There is stunning potential here,” Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander of the United States Central Command, said in an interview on Saturday. “There are a lot of ifs, of course, but I think potentially it is hugely significant.”

The value of the newly discovered mineral deposits dwarfs the size of Afghanistan’s existing war-bedraggled economy, which is based largely on opium production and narcotics trafficking as well as aid from the United States and other industrialized countries. Afghanistan’s gross domestic product is only about $12 billion.

“This will become the backbone of the Afghan economy,” said Jalil Jumriany, an adviser to the Afghan minister of mines.

 

Looks like its a good thing we invaded them then! The war is finally about to pay for itself.

 

Let's annex them! 51st state!!

 

Anyone up to speed on how to buy land in Afghanistan?

 

Things are strange over there. People build homes without permission all the time there on land that isnt theirs. You could probably start a small mining company far off in the mountains, pull a couple hundred million dollars of minerals out and pack up and leave without the government ever knowing what you are doing(as long as you pay the locals well.)

 

I am not sure I believe this report and think it might be seed planting incase someone wants to water it sometime in the future.

So they just decided to randomly undertake a mineral survey detailed enough to be able to make that sort of statement?

It takes companies months to years and requires lots of drilling to know what is actually there, core samples, analysis of each core, etc.

Something about this article just seems odd to me.

/takes off tinfoil hat.

 

Former Argentine president says Bush told him ‘the best way to revitalize the economy is war.’

Oliver Stone’s new documentary South of the Border, which interviews several left-wing leaders of Latin American countries, has unearthed a startling new allegation from Argentina’s former president Néstor Kirchner. During his interview with Stone, Kirchner said he once discussed global economic problems with former President George W. Bush. The former Argentine president says that when he suggested a new Marshall Plan, referring to the WW II-era European reconstruction plan, Bush “got angry” and suggested that “the Marshall Plan is a crazy idea of the Democrats.” Instead, Kirchner says, Bush suggested that “the best way to revitalize the economy is war”:

KIRCHNER: I said that a solution for the problems right now, I told Bush, is a Marshall Plan. And he got angry. He said the Marshall Plan is a crazy idea of the Democrats. He said the best way to revitalize the economy is war. And that the United States has grown stronger with war.

STONE: War, he said that?

KIRCHNER: He said that. Those were his exact words.

STONE: Is he suggesting that South America go to war?

KIRCHNER: Well, he was talking about the United States: ‘The Democrats had been wrong. All of the economic growth of the United States has been encouraged by wars.’ He said it very clearly.

Watch it:

http://thinkprogress.org/2010/05/28/argentine-prime-bush-war/

 

Now the war in Afghanistan all makes sense.

 

Natural resources do not make a country rich, the people do. Look at hongkong and Singapore they have virtually no natural resources.

 

well well... so they invade Afghanistan because of a few bearded
wackos who presumedly are terrrorists , then they put a puppet in power, and give all the rebuilding contracts to US companies, lo and behold just a few years later they find a trillion dollar worth of rare mineral deposits ! What a coincidence.