U.S. Scientists Reveal Afghanistan Sits Atop Of A Trillion Dollar Mineral Deposit

[rangerrebew]

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U.S. Scientists Reveal Afghanistan Sits Atop Of A Trillion Dollar Mineral Deposit

Posted By Chris Carrington On September 7, 2014 @ 1:35 pm In Editor's Choice,Featured,News,Perspectives,War and Conflict | 5 Comments


Rareearthoxides [1]

Image: Wikipedia [2]

U.S. scientists have revealed that Afghanistan, one of the poorest nations on Earth is sitting on top of a trillion dollar treasure trove of Rare Earth minerals.

The U.S Geological survey started looking at the mineral wealth of the country after the ousting of the Taliban in 2004.

According to Fox News: [3]


Afghanistan may hold 60 million tons of copper, 2.2 billion tons of iron ore, 1.4 million tons of rare earth elements such as lanthanum, cerium and neodymium, and lodes of aluminum, gold, silver, zinc, mercury and lithium. For instance, the Khanneshin carbonatite deposit in Afghanistan’s Helmand province is valued at $89 billion, full as it is with rare earth elements.

“Afghanistan is a country that is very, very rich in mineral resources,” Jack Medlin, a geologist and program manager of the U.S. Geological Survey’s Afghanistan project, told Live Science. “We’ve identified the potential for at least 24 world-class mineral deposits.” The scientists’ work was detailed in the Aug. 15 issue of the journal Science.

…

“Performing an assessment of mineral resources in Afghanistan is not like going out in the United States and doing normal field work,” Medlin said. “What becomes very, very obvious in Afghanistan is the huge amount of pre-planning that has to take place in order to visit any site in that country, such as who is going to provide security and how much security is needed. You also have to plan how you are actually going to get to some place, as for most of the sites in Afghanistan, you cannot drive there our work involved helicopters, and for our safety, we couldn’t be on the ground very long to get samples.”

Now it appears that these findings confirm what the then Soviet Union had already stated…that Afghanistan had massive mineral deposits that are worth an equally massive amount of money. So TPTB had this information before they committed thousands of our young service men and women to lay their lives on the line in Afghanistan in the name of the so-called war on Terror. (Even before they killed Osama Bin Laden the first time)


It’s a good job we know for sure that the U.S led forces invaded in order to prevent terrorism…and to drive the demon Taliban from power…and for the good of the Afghan people…and if you believe that you’ll also believe I saw Santa doing the cha-cha with the tooth fairy last week.

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Contributed by Chris Carrington of The Daily Sheeple [5].

Chris Carrington is a writer, researcher and lecturer with a background in science, technology and environmental studies. Chris is an editor for The Daily Sheeple [6]. Wake the flock up!


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URLs in this post:

[1] Image: http://www.thedailysheeple.com/u-s-scientists-reveal-afghanistan-sits-atop-of-a-trillion-dollar-mineral-deposit_092014/rareearthoxides

[2] Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rare_earth_element

[3] Fox News:: http://www.foxnews.com/science/2014/09/05/1-trillion-trove-rare-minerals-revealed-under-afghanistan/

[4] The Daily Sheeple: http://www.TheDailySheeple.com/

[5] The Daily Sheeple: http://www.TheDailySheeple.com

[6] The Daily Sheeple: http://www.thedailysheeple.com

[EC]

Good. Gives them something more than opium to sell.

[Oceander]

Might also give the Chinese a run for their money, so to speak, as the main exporter/producer (currently).

[alicewonders]

Things like that tend to shift power quickly. 

[Oceander]

Things like that tend to shift power quickly. 

Still, somebody has to have the resources and capability to dig the stuff out, refine it, and transport it.  I rather doubt the taliban are up to that task (nor, I suspect, is the nominal Afghan government).

[alicewonders]

Still, somebody has to have the resources and capability to dig the stuff out, refine it, and transport it.  I rather doubt the taliban are up to that task (nor, I suspect, is the nominal Afghan government).

I could see it turning into another "blood diamond" type of operation. 

[Oceander]

I could see it turning into another "blood diamond" type of operation. 

Maybe, but rare earths don't naturally come out of the ground in handy little nuggets that can be carried off in a pocket the way that diamonds do.  Apparently, one of the reasons they're called rare earths is that they rarely show up in concentrated lodes (like, e.g., gold), which means you have to go through a lot of ore to get the refined material.  Also, rare earths are apparently not simply bought and sold in pure form, but in various degrees of admixture.

[olde north church]

Might make it worthwhile to neutron the joint and send in miners from various access points.