TEHRAN: Iran wants to invest in Sangan iron ore mine of Herat Province, located in border areas between Afghanistan and Iran, Afghan media reported.
As mineral resources from Sangan iron ore mine on the Iranian side are nearing depletion, Iran is willing to invest in the Afghanistan part of the mine to fulfill its need of raw materials for its factories, Wadsam news agency reported.
The two countries have yet to reach an agreement on where to process the mineral resource.
Afghan acting minister of mines, Nargis Nehan, said based on Afghanistan’s policy, extracted mineral resources should be processed inside Afghanistan.
Last month, Iran’s Ambassador in Kabul Mohammad Reza Bahrami said the two countries started talks on Iranian investment in Afghanistan’s mining sector.
“We have held talks with Afghanistan’s government on investment in mines in the country, particularly the Sangan mine,” he said.
Behrouz Borna, the deputy head of Geological Survey of Iran, has been quoted as saying that Iran can use its experience and expertise in the mining sector to beat its two main rivals in the region, India and China, in exploiting Afghanistan’s untapped mineral reserves.
Iran and Afghanistan are also working to link their rail networks.
When completed, the railroad connection will link the Iranian city of Khwaf in the northeastern Khorasan Razavi Province to Herat, Afghanistan’s third-largest city.
The first section of the route, from Khwaf to the mine-rich city of Sangan, became operational in late 2016. The second section extends to the border city of Shamtigh in Afghanistan.
The other two sections are in the Afghan territory covering 114 km from Shamtigh to Herat. The 62-km Section 3, connecting Shamtigh to Ghurian, is being built by Iran.
The corridor in its entirety, from Herat to Khwaf, will connect Iranian mineral plants to those of Afghanistan, while also connecting Afghan deposits to the international waters in the south of Iran.
This will be Afghanistan’s first railroad link to Iran and the country’s only link to Persian Gulf and Sea of Oman.
