Russian scientists study Afghanistan's mineral wealth worth $3 trillion

Russia has begun research into Afghanistan's mineral reserves. According to estimates from US geological surveys, Afghanistan's mineral wealth is worth as much as $3 trillion.

According to the Russian Business Center in Afghanistan, their mission is to "shortly analyze and compile a geological map of the country's mineral resource base to assist the local government."

Rustam Khabibullin, the head of the Russian Business Center said that a number of expeditions have already been conducted in the provinces of Kunduz, Takhar, and Badakhshan. According to him, the results of the research showed the numbers that were significantly higher than those that had been obtained during geological surveys of the past.

"Preliminary analyses of samples of precious and rare earth metals showed that the forecast was exceeded by 8 times for precious metals and by 12 times for rare earth metals. As for precious metals, it goes about silver, gold, platinum, and palladium," he said.

Rare earth elements include lithium, tantalum, niobium, cesium, rubidium, beryllium and cadmium.

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Afghanistan officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the east and south, Iran to the west, Turkmenistan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, Tajikistan to the northeast, and China to the northeast and east. Occupying 652,864 square kilometers (252,072 sq mi) of land, the country is predominantly mountainous with plains in the north and the southwest, which are separated by the Hindu Kush mountain range. Kabul is the country's capital and largest city. According to the World Population review, as of 2023, Afghanistan's population is 43 million. The National Statistics Information Authority of Afghanistan estimated the population to be 32.9 million as of 2020.