The Taliban's Ministry of Mines and Petroleum signed contracts for the extraction of seven large mines worth 6.557 billion dollars with domestic and foreign companies.
Shahabuddin Delawar, the group’s Minister of Mines and Petroleum, said that these contracts can lead Afghanistan to economic self-sustainability.
These contracts were signed on Thursday by Delawar along with the awarded companies in the presence of several senior officials of the group, including Mullah Baradar, the Taliban’s Deputy Prime Minister.
Delawar said that the process of awarding these contracts has taken around two years.
The Taliban officials said that one of the mines awarded is the Chah Aab gold mine, which is located in Takhar province and has an estimated 31 tonnes of gold. The awarded contract for this gold mine has been estimated at 1.8 billion dollars. The Taliban officials said that the awarded private company, China-Afghanistan, will invest 310 million dollars in this mine.
According to the Taliban officials, according to the contract, 56 percent of the mining profit will be taken by the Taliban and the other 44 percent will remain for China-Afghanistan company.
The other mining contract awarded was for Aynak II copper mine, which is located next to Aynak I copper mine in Logar province and was awarded to another unknown mining company.
According to Taliban officials, the company will invest around 411 million dollars in the second block of Aynak copper mine. The Taliban officials stressed that 12 percent profit from this mine would be given to the Taliban and the other 88 percent would belong to the company.
The Taliban also announced that a lead mine has been awarded to a private company with an expected 75-million-dollar investment. The mine is located in Tulak district of Ghor province.
The mining site has been awarded to an Afghan company for thirty years and 20 percent profit from the mine will be given to the Taliban and the remaining will be owned by the mining company.
The Taliban also announced the award of the first block of Ghorian iron mine site in Herat province to a joint venture of Afghan and Iranian companies.
The joint venture is supposed to invest 2.8 billion dollars in the first block of Ghorian iron mine. According to the Taliban officials, the contract has been awarded for 30 years and 13 percent of the mining profit goes to the Taliban and the other 87 percent will go to the mining companies.
The Taliban officials also stated that another 874 million dollars will be invested in the contract for the second block of Ghorian iron mine. The Taliban said that 13 percent of mining profit will be given to the group and the other 87 will be owned by the mining company.
The Taliban added that the mining site has been awarded to an Afghan-Turkish joint venture.
The Taliban has also awarded the contract for extracting the third block of Herat's Ghorian iron mine to a joint venture of British and Afghan companies.
According to the Taliban, the awarded companies will invest 272 million dollars on the third block of Ghorian iron mine.
According to this contract, 13 percent of the mining profit will be given to the Taliban and 87 percent profit will be taken by the mining companies.
The Taliban also announced that the fourth block of the Ghorian iron mine has been awarded to a joint venture of Iranian and Afghan companies.
The Taliban added that the profit-sharing form this mining site will be the same as the other blocks of the Ghorian mining sites.
