Hidden in the rugged Hindu Kush and the Pamir mountain ranges of Afghanistan, there’ a great wealth of mineral resources: deposits of some of the world’s finest marble.



Despite Afghanistan’s years of political instability, international investors and consumers are increasingly recognizing the business opportunities present in marble quarrying. While challenges to the industry’s development remain, a newly reinvigorated private sector – empowered and coordinated through a national marble association – and a supportive national government have taken early, positive steps to effectively address them.



Afghanistan’s 60 known deposits of dimensional stone consist of 35 varieties quarried in more than 40 different colors. Among the many fine varieties available, the fine-grained Afghan white marbles of Chest-e-Sharif and Khogiani are favorably compared to Italian Carrara marble. These plentiful deposits have the capacity to support the expansion of existing mines and the establishment of many more quarry sites across Afghanistan.



Afghanistan’s advantageous proximity to the growing markets of China, the Indian sub-continent and the Persian Gulf presents significant medium- and long-term opportunities in the regional and global marketplaces. However, at present, this underdeveloped sector comprises only one percent of Afghanistan’s GNP.



A significant amount of Afghan marble is exported as rough-hewn blocks and is often re-imported as higher-value polished marble products from neighboring countries such as Pakistan. Limited domestic processing capacity limits Afghanistan’s share of the higher profits generated through sales of finished marble products.



The use of explosives in many of Afghanistan’s marble quarries, which is dangerous for laborers and damaging to the marble resources, wastes around 25 percent of the total value of production. The lack of proper equipment and technical knowledge means that poor extraction methods are the norm, which often degrades the value of the marble. Modern extraction methods could allow existing quarries to begin producing higher quantity and quality from known deposits, some of which already command top prices from buyers in Dubai, Kuwait and Lebanon.



There are also pressing needs for greater legal and regulatory reform, additional equity-and-debt investments, and improved power and transportation infrastructure. With sufficient investment in technical training and equipment, the marble industry in Afghanistan can be a major regional supplier and driver of domestic economic growth.



Through the work of the Afghanistan Marble and Granite Processors Association (AMGPA) and international donor partners, including the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), investment and capacity building projects are helping to modernize the available equipment, improve extraction practices, and lobby the government for more business-friendly regulation and improved infrastructure.



Through direct work with the government, international donors and the private sector, the AMGPA aspires to increase adoption of new technology and machinery to lead to the greater processing and export of stone meeting international standards. The AMGPA has more than 100 members united in this goal.



In late March 2009, AMGPA hosted the Afghan Marble and Stone Conference in Kabul, Afghanistan. The three-day conference was organized by the USAID’s Small and Medium Enterprise Development project (ASMED), the Afghan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) and the AMGPA. The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Afghanistan Investment and Reconstruction Task Force (AIRTF) helped to promote the event to industry leaders in the the United States.



The event brought together a broad array of private sector firms, international financers, marble and stone industry experts, government agencies and marble industry associations from around the world. Of particular note, investors from the United States and Jordan visited quarry sites and processing facilities in two of Afghanistan’s regions.



The Afghan firms were thrilled to welcome. Jim Hogan, senior vice president of Carrara Marble Company of America Inc. and former president of the Marble Institute of America. The conference attendees were honored by the participation of the Minister of Mines, the Minister of Finance, the Minister of Commerce, and the leaders of the Afghan Export Promotion and Investment Support agencies.



Italian Ambassador Claudio Glaentzer described the upcoming cooperation offered by Confindustria Marmomacchine (the leading marble industry association), including participation in master training and business matchmaking events. USAID Mission Director Michael Yates pledged continued support through the ASMED project.



The Afghan Marble Conference will reconvene next March in the western region of Herat, the most advanced quarrying area of Afghanistan.



CURRENT OPERATIONS

Many mining activities in Afghanistan are conducted on a small-scale basis, although some larger, more modern operations are in a few locations. Presently, there are only two or three operations in the country cutting slabs to international standards; sector-wide, outdated processing methods and machinery continues to lead to a high degree of waste –in some cases, as high as 80 percent.



Small-scale quarrying operations typically involve manual digging of pits with shovels and loading straight onto trucks (usual capacity, seven tons) such as is done along the Chelsetoon River in Kabul.



Larger-scale operations, such as those on the Paghman River west of Kabul, use front-end loaders and processing plants equipped with screens and crushers for oversize material.



Crushed rock aggregate is produced from hard-rock quarries throughout the country. In the greater Kabul area, there are many quarries extracting Proterozoic Marble, Gneiss, Schist and Amphibolite.



There is a wide variety of marble in Afghanistan currently extracted from quarries in Badakhshan, Balkh, Bamyan, Helmand, Herat, Kabul, Kandahar, Logar, Faryab, Wardak, Nangarhar, Paktia, Parwan and Samangan.



In the past, quarries were active at the large limestone and dolomite resources in Badakhshan Province. For example, the Sabz quarry worked a lower carboniferous limestone resource estimated at some 13 million tons. There are also limestone resources in Baghlan, Bamyan and Herat provinces.



Marble is also worked for crushed rock aggregate in Badakhshan, Herat, Kabul, Kandahar, Wardak and Nangarhar provinces. Often in these operations, a lack of production expertise and plant maintenance results in poor quality aggregate with an excessive proportion of flaky and low-strength particles.



The white marble extracted in Herat and Nangahrar has been favorably compared to Carrara marble. The highest quality deposits currently in operation are listed by province:



Kabul province: Proterozoic marble is quarried at Ghazak, Hazare Baghal, Kariz-Amir, Pul-e-Charkhi, Qalamkar, and Tara Kheel. The Kariz-Amir marble occurs 40 kilometers north of Kabul, and consists of granular white, rarely grey-yellow marble.



The Ghazak marble (Ghazak Black) is a popular fine-grained, black marble that occurs 32 km east of Kabul.



Twenty one AMGPA member marble companies currently employ 524 people in Kabul province, with quarry operations primarily supplying local marble processors, with the end user being local construction companies.



Logar province: Proterozoic marble is quarried in Awbazak, Dehnow and Mohammad Agha. Awbazak marble is bioclastic and brown in color; Dehnow marble is brecciated and brown in color; and Mohammad Agha marble is black and white in color.



Wardak province: The Proterozoic Maydan marble occurs near Maydan Shar and consists of grey and dark grey marble beds up to 450 meters thick, interbedded with schist. The Maydan marble mines are well known, with five working areas in a 10- to 12-kilometer outcrop worked for the past 40 years.



Badakhshan province: The Silurian-Devonian Bini-Kama marble consists of medium and coarsely crystalline marble; the resource is estimated to be 13 million tons.



Herat province: The Proterozoic Chesht-i-Sharif marble occurs 120 kilomters east of Herat city and consists of a finely crystalline marble white to a light green in color.



Twelve AMGPA member marble companies currently employ 280 people in Herat province, with customers split among local processing plants, as well as Middle Eastern and Asian buyers of marble blocks.



Nangarhar province: The Proterozoic Khogiani marble occurs 35km southwest of Jalalabad and consists of a white marble known as Afghan White.



Some of the best quality marble from Afghanistan is “onyx marble”. Onyx is a banded variety of chalcedony, a cryptocrystalline form of quartz. The Afghan onyx may, in fact, be a variety of aragonite (calcium carbonate) called travertine. However, the traditional name of onyx remains in use to this day. Afghan onyx is valued for its color banding ranging from white to yellow, green or brown. Afghan onyx is quarried in several provinces including Bamyan, Helmand and Faryab.



The Chesht and Khogiani marbles are currently worked for dimension stone and have been favourably compared to Carrara marble, an Italian marble recognized as one of the best-quality marbles in the world.



Twelve AMGPA member marble companies currently employ 294 people in Nangarhar province, with quarry operations primarily supplying local and Pakistani processors, plus customers in China and Kuwait.



Balkh Province: Two AMGPA member marble companies currently employ 52 people in Balkh province, with quarry operations primarily supplying local retail and construction customers.