The Taliban’s Ministry of Mines and Petroleum has announced that it has signed a contract for the extraction of the second block of the salt mine located in the “Namaksar” area of the Ghoryan district in Herat province with a domestic company.
According to the ministry’s spokesperson, Homayoun Afghan, the Minister of Mines and Petroleum, Hedayatullah Badri, signed the agreement with the mining company “Red Gold Asia.” Under the terms of the contract, the company will invest a total of $20,045,000 in the project.
The ministry stated that the total area of the salt deposit covers 9.7 square kilometers and that the contract has been awarded for a period of 15 years. As part of the agreement, the company will pay a royalty of 1,500 Afghanis per ton of extracted salt.
The Ministry of Mines and Petroleum further noted that the contracting company will conduct its operations in accordance with the applicable mining law and relevant procedures, and is obligated to fully comply with all legal mining standards.
According to the ministry’s information, in addition to royalty payments, “Red Gold Asia” will also allocate $930,000 toward social services. Officials say that the launch of this project will directly create employment opportunities for approximately 100 people.
Writer:Saeed Sameer
