Afghanistan Is Sitting on a Gold Mine –Literally – Investing.com

Afghanistan Is Sitting on a Gold Mine –Literally – Investing.com

Afghanistan is sitting on a gold mine. I don’t mean that figuratively.

The country sits atop what could be one of the world’s largest reserves of various metals and minerals, including not just gold but also platinum, silver, copper, iron, aluminum and uranium. It’s believed to have so much lithium, an increasingly important metal that’s widely used in battery technology, that Afghanistan could one day be known as the “Saudi Arabia of lithium,” according to a 2010 memo by the U.S. Department of Defense.

The combined value of its minerals is estimated at between $1 trillion and $3 trillion. By comparison, opium poppy production in the country was valued at only $350 million in 2020, despite an increase in cultivation from the previous year.