KABUL: A regular meeting of the Economic Commission was held with Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar Akhund, the Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs, his office said in a statement on Thursday.
In the meeting, the contract for iron ore from the Siyah Dara area in the Yakawlang district of Bamyan was approved, conditional on the establishment of a fully operational processing plant in the country and the payment of 20% royalty to the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum.
The contract was awarded to Milat Steel and Khan Wazir companies.
Royalty refers to a legal-economic term regularly paid for the use of mineral resources.
Additionally, after discussion, the royalty for the first and second blocks of gypsum in the Kori Taw area of Chahar Dara district Kunduz was set at 250 Afghanis.
The Ministry of Mines and Petroleum was tasked with negotiating with the winning contracting companies regarding the royalties for the marble mines in the Luqman Dand area of the Gushta district and Jokan area in Hesarak, Nangarhar, and providing a report.
Furthermore, it was decided that the contract for nephrite stones in the Walaki village of Tagab district in Kapisa would be approved with a 60% royalty.
The meeting also resolved to put the serpentine stones from Marki Khil in the Jirubi Gat Mina area of Shirzad district, Nangarhar, up for open bidding.
This comes as the extraction of the country’s mineral resources has seen a transparent increase since the establishment of the current administration in Afghanistan.
Economic Commission approves contract for iron ore in Bamyan
