Minerals in Afghanistan : The Hajigak iron deposit

Abstract

The Hajigak iron ore deposit is situated in the mountainous Bamyan province, 130 km west of the Afghanistan capital, Kabul (Figure 1). It is one of several iron deposits within this area but is the largest located to date. The ore occurs within the Herat fault zone as sub-concordant sheets and lenses within Proterozoic metasedimentary and metavolcanic rocks. A study in the 1960s demonstrated the mineral potential of the region, and estimated the Hajigak resource as 1.8 billion tonnes of iron ore with a concentration of approximately 62 % Fe (Table 1). This assessment ranks the Hajigak deposit as world class. The presence of coking coal nearby at Shabashak and the world-class ranking of the iron ore resource combine to make the Hajigak deposit an exceptionally favourable target for economic development