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		</div><p><a href="http://londonglossy.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/afghan-gold-mining-project-approved.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full" title="The Afghan government has approved a contract to mine gold under the mountains of northern Afghanistan (AP)" src="http://londonglossy.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/min-afghan-gold-mining-project-approved.jpg" alt="The Afghan government has approved a contract to mine gold under the mountains of northern Afghanistan (AP)"/></a></p>
<p>Afghan government officials have approved a multimillion-dollar contract to mine the wealth of gold under the mountains of northern Afghanistan.</p>
<p>The deal is the first mining project in Afghanistan backed by private investors in the West. Afghan and US officials hope many more deals will follow to help jump-start the economy of the impoverished nation in its 10 years of war.</p>
<p>&#8220;This project is an important step forward for Afghanistan&#8217;s economic sovereignty,&#8221; US deputy under secretary of defence Paul A Brinkley said. &#8220;It represents a turning point in the history of international investment into Afghanistan.&#8221;</p>
<p>Mr Brinkley, who directs the defence department&#8217;s Task Force for Business and Stability Operations, said the gold mine deal is evidence that Western investors are showing confidence in Afghanistan&#8217;s economic future.</p>
<p>About 10 investors &#8211; most of them from the US and Britain &#8211; are investing an estimated 50 million dollars (£32 million) in the gold project in Dushi district of Baghlan province, about 84 miles north west of Kabul, according to Wahidullah Shahrani, Afghanistan&#8217;s minister of mines. The only other gold mine in Afghanistan is in neighbouring Takhar province.</p>
<p>Mr Shahrani said he hoped that getting the deal approved by the Inter-Ministerial Council, which comprises the government&#8217;s top finance and economic officials, would send a strong signal to global mining companies that there are investment opportunities in Afghanistan, especially in the mining sector.</p>
<p>Geologists have known for decades about Afghanistan&#8217;s vast deposits of iron, copper, cobalt, gold and other prized minerals. In June, the US Defence Department put a startling trillion dollar (£630 billion) price tag on the reserves, but Mr Shahrani called that a conservative estimate. He said he has seen geological assessments and industry reports estimating the nation&#8217;s mineral wealth at three times that figure.</p>
<p>For Afghanistan, the minerals are a potential windfall, although formidable obstacles remain, including lack of investment, infrastructure and adequate security in most of the nation.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the Afghan government has also awarded its first private oil contract. A mining ministry official said the six-month deal for the sale of crude oil from Angot field in Sar-e-Pul province is the first awarded by President Hamid Karzai&#8217;s government. Jalil Jumriany said an Afghan company won the bid on Monday to buy oil at 80 dollars a barrel.</p>
<p>Production from the field &#8211; which has been shut for years after militias were exploiting it illegally &#8211; is expected to hit 800 barrels a day. Revenue is expected to be about one million dollars (£630,000) a month. After six months, the field will be transferred to whoever wins the bid for a larger oil operation in Sar-e-Pul.</p>
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