Afghanistan’s desolate Ghazni Province may hold the world’s largest deposits of lithium. (Image: Tyler Hicks/The New York Times)
Just days after the Afghan War became the longest war in US history – 104 months, surpassing the 103-month American engagement in Vietnam – the New York Times, quoting top US government officials, reported the discovery of near $1 trillion in untapped mineral deposits in Afghanistan.
In addition to huge finds of iron, copper, cobalt and gold, Afghanistan could potentially rival Bolivia as the world’s largest source of lithium, a key material for green technologies, including batteries for electric vehicles. In fact, the NYT cites an internal Pentagon memo stating that Afghanistan could become the “Saudi Arabia of lithium.”
The report quotes US officials who claim that these mineral deposits have the potential to “fundamentally alter the Afghan economy and perhaps the Afghan war itself ,” but also notes that “the Obama administration is hungry for some positive news to come out of Afghanistan.”
from greenprophet.com:
http://www.greenprophet.com/2010/06/15/22740/lithium-afghanistan-mine/
Afghanistan’s desolate Ghazni Province may hold the world’s largest deposits of lithium. (Image: Tyler Hicks/The New York Times)
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