[R-G] One gem of a mission: Feds' push for mining investors in Afghanistan muddles military presence

[Anthony Fenton]

http://www.nowtoronto.com/news/story.cfm?content=162242

One gem of a mission: Feds' push for mining investors in Afghanistan  
muddles military presence
Saul Chernos

Canada's mission in Afghanistan, it appears, may not be limited to
hunting down insurgents or building roads.

That's what I discovered a few weeks back when I came upon a notice
from Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada hanging on a
bulletin board at the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada
annual convention.

The feds were inviting all interested parties to a round table with
Afghanistan's minister of mines.

"Minister [Ibrahim] Adel,'' the invite promised, "will speak about the
tremendous mining opportunities in Afghanistan, including details on a
number of projects. He welcomes the opportunity to meet with Canadian
companies.''

I'm sure he does, I thought, but then again, what exactly would
Canada's participation in Afghan mining "opportunities'' mean for our
military presence there? Would mining operations prolong our
intervention? And what about all the civil tension extracting wealth
from the ground causes everywhere it happens?

Not a problem for the Afghan Geological Survey, whose display featured
emeralds and offered literature revealing that "Afghanistan and
gemstones have been inextricably linked for 6,500 years'' but that
most of the country's emeralds, rubies, lapis lazuli and sapphires
leave illicitly, going largely to Peshawar in Pakistan, with
higher-grade stones ultimately landing in Western markets.

But Afghanistan is home to more than gemstones. The Hajigak iron
deposit, 130 kilometres west of Kabul, is reputed to contain 1.8
billion tonnes of iron ore. And, this past fall, China Metallurgical
Group beat eight other contenders, including Vancouver-based Hunter
Dickinson, for negotiating rights to more than 12.3 million tonnes of
copper at Aynak, a former al Qaeda training camp 35 kilometres
southeast of Kabul.

The government and its allies are keen for investment; the British and
U.S. geological surveys have helped extensively with mapping and
documenting mineral deposits across the country. At one conference
session, Stephen Peters of the U.S. Geological Survey reported that
that there are significant untapped reserves, from mercury and zinc to
marble and gold.

But Adam Choppin, of the Afghanistan Investment and Reconstruction
Task Force, an arm of the U.S. commerce department, acknowledged "the
elephant in the room": the political and business environment.

"Because of the way the press colours your impressions of Afghanistan,
you may not have considered it stable relative to other countries.
Whenever you hear stories of bombings or kidnappings, almost all the
time they are in the south of Afghanistan [near Pakistan].''

Choppin described Hajigak as being situated in Afghanistan's
relatively stable Bamiyan province. "It was there [in 2001] that the
Taliban bombed the Buddha statues. The people there suffered mightily
at the hands of the Taliban, and as a result they are extremely
pro-Western and ready for foreign investment."

Afghanistan is one of the easiest countries in which to obtain
licences and open a business, Choppin said. "It actually takes you
fewer days and fewer procedures to start a new company in Afghanistan
than it does in the United States.''

The minister of mines waited until the Foreign Affairs round table to
speak publicly. "We have standardized our law and legislation for
attracting the companies,'' Adel told about a dozen people. "More than
90 per cent of our country needs additional exploration. I hope this
is completed and that you will have a hand in some projects."

Asked about security, Adel reiterated that most of Afghanistan is
relatively safe and urged attendees to hire local villagers. "When the
local people feel that all these activities benefit them, then they
will secure you as they secure their own families,'' he said
afterwards in an interview.

Steve Brand of Globe Risk, a Toronto-based security firm with offices
in Kabul and Kandahar, attended the same session. He agreed with
hiring locals but said companies should "layer'' them with expats.

"The presence of the NATO forces contributes to a level of stability
that makes it easier for private companies to do business and dovetail
their security efforts with what's happening on the ground," he
offered.

Robert Schafer, vice-president of business development with Hunter
Dickinson, said after the session that his company had been prepared
to do business in Afghanistan.

"At no time will you ever be as safe as if you're exploring in Canada
or even a place like Chile. We were balancing the quality of the
deposit and our very large networking abilities in the Middle East and
Central Asia against the safety risks."

But one Canadian mining executive who asked not to be identified said
his company stays out of politically unstable countries. "We come up
with risk ratings, and Afghanistan ranks quite high on those at the
moment."

news at nowtoronto.com