Afghan Gold!! There's gold in them thar Afghan hills !!!

[phrogdriver]

Of course, one of many thorny issues will be "ownership" and the Tribal Law resident in likely areas of discoveries will run headlong into corrupt Government fueled by developer greed. Gee, sounds a lot like the "Native Americans" vs the "Gold Rush" and other settler interests.

...no problem that some tuberculosis-infected blankets couldn't fix!:icon_wink

 

[The Phiz]

How on earth did they get our gold all the way down there?

Ok time for the serious face.... From the sounds of it, its going to be one hell of a job for anyone to mine. Its going to be a while before anyone sees any income from this. Or is that totally off base?

 

[GreenLantern330]

What could bankrupt them though would be if BP were not allowed to compete in further mining bids. That is very likely, not sure how its legal - but when has that mattered much to this administration. BP could easily afford the clean up, but to have future mining operations put in jeopardy could really hurt.

Still trying to figure out how Pelosi and friends think they're going to force BP into cutting the dividend for shareholders and force them to cut spending on advertising (image repair) - they're a foreign company traded in London. But again, those are just details that shouldn't really get in the way.....right?

Hahaha, this is true. And yeah, totally forgot about the whole future mining part, which I agree would definitely hurt them.

 

[eddie]

China already has a near monopoly on raw materials for batteries, so it is probably in their best interest to take as much as they can.

Rare earths are only occasionally used in very specific types of batteries. China has a monopoly on rare earth metals, not lithium.

Ok time for the serious face.... From the sounds of it, its going to be one hell of a job for anyone to mine. Its going to be a while before anyone sees any income from this. Or is that totally off base?

It takes many years and lots of capital to develop a mine before it even begins to produce under favorable conditions. Security considerations certainly exist; can't imagine how that part will all play out. However, people are already scrambling to develop exploration programs there. The mineral wealth of Afghanistan has not exactly been so secret as certain reports may suggest; the info has been out there since the mid 2000's. Also, any area with regional geology so favorable to ore deposits that has not been subjected to modern exploration methods will almost undoubtably host deposits.

Hopefully the Chinese don't take the minerals and riches that American blood allowed to be discovered and mined.

Don't get me wrong, I hate to see one more Chinese mine, but let's be honest about this for a second. The USGS program that did all this mapping piggy-backed off work done by the Soviets, so let's give credit where it is due. In all liklihood, somebody else would have come sniffing for copper soon enough without our involvement in the region. Would the Taliban have kept them out? I don't know. It doesn't really matter; the Afghans owned the minerals before we even helped show them where they were.

 

[Jim123]

Well shoot, whoever sets up the mining will probably save a lot of money not having to deal with those pesky OSHA standards...

 

[Beans]

I can hardly wait for the tribal leaders to fight about who has control of it?
Ohhh WAIT. that sounds like OIL. hmmm no it doesn't make cars or anything industrial run. Ohhh WAIT. Nothing today runs without computer technology (except in Afganistan) and gold is a vital part of it. Ohhh wait ..... we'll have a presidential commission do a study while the country turns into an even further disaster with the help of our (*&^%$% as he turns the USA into the same kind of disaster.
BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE, as the (*&^^%^ visits the gulf coast and decides to shut down gulf oil to make a point and tell BP they are going to go bankrupt (he wont say that but it will happen).
So, does gold become more important than oil? Nahhh there must be more to the story and I'm not privy anymore. Nor is the US public?

Rocky, settle down, George Bush isn't our president any more. You can start writing his name again.

 

[squorch2]

Good luck constructing any sort of major infrastructure to transport this trillion dollar resource.

 

[Recovering LSO]

...And Kazakhstan has the best potassium in the world.

 

[Stearmann4]

We went there nine years ago on a punitive mission to kill some terrorists. Somewhere along the way we decided to try and build a functioning democracy. Now this? We've spent nine years fighting peasants with AK-47's to a stalemate. Whatever is in those hills needs to stay there until the Afghans dig it out with spoons.

F&A Bubba...F&A! This will undoubtedly be the catalyst for keeping us there until my 9-year old kid is old enough to be my co-pilot. Sad thought.

When the Afghans can mine and process it, they can sell it. I'd rather we just keep throwing cash at em', we're going to continue that direction anyway.
MR-

 

[phrogdriver]

Some economists have said that this is the worst thing that could ever happen to the people there. That is, other than being born in Afghanistan. Countries with weath built on natural resources never become well-rounded economies or functioning democracies. The ruling class gets all the money they can steal, while no one else gets anything. It's called the "natural resources curse," or some such.

They'd be better off having a t-shirt factory there than all the lithium in the world.

 

[zippy]

Cool to see that the P-3 played an important role. Hopefully the Chinese don't take the minerals and riches that American blood allowed to be discovered and mined.

A little more in on the P-3 unit that found the mineral deposits for those insterested.

http://www.navytimes.com/news/2010/06/navy_minerals_062110w/

 

[SkywardET]

Some economists have said that this is the worst thing that could ever happen to the people there. That is, other than being born in Afghanistan. Countries with weath built on natural resources never become well-rounded economies or functioning democracies. The ruling class gets all the money they can steal, while no one else gets anything. It's called the "natural resources curse," or some such.

They'd be better off having a t-shirt factory there than all the lithium in the world.

That is perhaps true, but no path out of poverty is without some form of wealth creation, and this is indeed a form of wealth creation. Ultimately, is this situation any different than the one they are currently in, where the feudal warlords receive the bulk of the wealth from their opium production? All other things being equal, a country having natural resources is always in a superior position than one without.