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US "Discovers" Nearly $1 Trillion In Mineral Deposits In Afghanistan
And there are those who wonder why the US has spent countless dollars and thousands of dead soldiers protecting a few desolate mountain passes in Afghanistan. And no, it turns out it is not just the opium trade. The NYT reports that "The United States has discovered nearly $1 trillion in untapped mineral deposits in Afghanistan, far beyond any previously known reserves and enough to fundamentally alter the Afghan economy and perhaps the Afghan war itself, according to senior American government officials." The article continues, "The previously unknown deposits — including huge veins of iron, copper, cobalt, gold and critical industrial metals like lithium — are so big and include so many minerals that are essential to modern industry that Afghanistan could eventually be transformed into one of the most important mining centers in the world, the United States officials believe." Ah yes - "previously unknown." Yet the punchline of the piece : "The vast scale of Afghanistan’s mineral wealth was discovered by a small team of Pentagon officials and American geologists." Because $1 trillion worth of minerals just lie there waiting to be discovered almost 10 years after the initial incursion. Next thing you know FCX already had an entire mining infrastructure in place just in case a contingency like this miraculously occurred. In the meantime, look for gold prices to plunge as the newly uncovered gold deposits are rumored to be "large" enough to once again refill Fort Knox and to push the supply curve three miles to the right.
More on this truly "stunning" discovery:
The United States has discovered nearly $1 trillion in untapped mineral deposits in Afghanistan, far beyond any previously known reserves and enough to fundamentally alter the Afghan economy and perhaps the Afghan war itself, according to senior American government officials.
he previously unknown deposits — including huge veins of iron, copper, cobalt, gold and critical industrial metals like lithium — are so big and include so many minerals that are essential to modern industry that Afghanistan could eventually be transformed into one of the most important mining centers in the world, the United States officials believe.
An internal Pentagon memo, for example, states that Afghanistan could become the “Saudi Arabia of lithium,” a key raw material in the manufacture of batteries for laptops and Blackberries.
The vast scale of Afghanistan’s mineral wealth was discovered by a small team of Pentagon officials and American geologists. The Afghan government and President Hamid Karzai were recently briefed, American officials said.
While it could take many years to develop a mining industry, the potential is so great that officials and executives in the industry believe it could attract heavy investment even before mines are profitable, providing the possibility of jobs that could distract from generations of war.
The value of the newly discovered mineral deposits dwarfs the size of Afghanistan’s existing war-bedraggled economy, which is based largely on opium production and narcotics trafficking as well as aid from the United States and other industrialized countries. Afghanistan’s gross domestic product is only about $12 billion.
“This will become the backbone of the Afghan economy,” said Jalil Jumriany, an adviser to the Afghan minister of mines.
Is it time for "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man: Part 2, the 21st Century paradigm"? Yet presumably not all is as expected: "Yet the American officials also recognize that the mineral discoveries will almost certainly have a double-edged impact. Instead of bringing peace, the newfound mineral wealth could lead the Taliban to battle even more fiercely to regain control of the country."
Which is why it will be best to have the US military not only stay in Afghanistan indefinitely but to get a million man reinforcement surge. After all now that it is finally becoming clear that the most recent US state is located somewhere in the middle of Asia, things are about to get a whole lot more interesting.
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Wow... what an incredibly fortunate development.
Lucky us... err... them!
LOL. Yes quickly sell all your gold as this stuff will rain down from the sky during missile attacks. LOL I knew this was going to be a doozy of a bullshit story but I never would have thought of this.
I sold all of mine immediately after reading this story. I had to take 60% of spot, but I thought it was for the best.
I'll try to sell my silver tomorrow, but I doubt I'll find a buyer.
I did some quick math into what this would mean for my gold investments. Currently, 160,000 tonnes of gold has been mined and is above ground... meaning 161 million kilograms, or a little over 5 billion ounces. A total worth of over 6 trillion dollars distributed amongst 6 billion people, central banks, etc...
This find in afghanistan of "1 trillion" dollars in mineral wealth encompasses copper, gold, lithium, iron, etc... Even if we assume 25% or 250 billion dollars of this is in gold, underground, in a war-ridden country that currently has no infrastructure to support mass scale mining... we are talking about a 4% increase in the gold supply. This is a drop in the bucket.
A mere 4% increase is nothing when gold is so undervalued. Total world gold will now go from current worth of 6 trillion to 6.25 trillion. I am quite sure this little "DISCOVERY" was happy coincidence in the face of possible destabilization from currency failure. I quite appreciate law and order that comes from stable governments, but I also don't like being manipulated. JP Morgan with all its short positions must be exuberant right about now... jumping for joy at the windfall that they will make from a temporary drop in prices due to this "discovery." After JP unloads their short positions after a massive outflow of gold investments from the fear of supposedly increased supply, it will go long this time. They will bring up how the find is miniscule in the big picture and that the mine will not become productive for at least 10 years and how current demand will continue to force prices sky high.
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. I think I will be adding to my position... I think the market will likely correct a good 10% to perhaps 20% with this news... at which time, I will double down.
I can't eat gold, but I can surely buy ambrosia when people start opening their eyes to fiat money
Good post/job
Yes indeedy.
This is just wonderful news. Four men drove around and figured all this out. Of all the people in the world that have come to that piece of hard scrabble, Four men figured this out. That is just amazing. And they even could put a price on it, that is just incredible. I will not be able to sleep at night, knowing that four men have saved the world. </sarcasm> For the life of me, I do not understand why people think gold is so freaking hard to find.
Can we do a Lexis/Nexis on whether a small team of geologists sent there by the British Empire back in Kiplings's time didn't announce some big mineral finds, just as it was becoming clear they ought to leave?
They probably lacked the satellite capability of "seeing" formations and mineral types that allow us to identify deposits. However, I am sure we never pointed them at Afganistan until just now...
By my feeble reckoning, there've been a number of articles in the press over the last year or so concerning Significant, Major Capital Investments in Afghani Mining Operations by the Chinese. Complete with real, armed Chinese Troops for Security/Protection.
Leave it to the Reformed Ex-Commie Newbie Capitalistia Chinese to Rediscover the Joys of Mercantilism.
gold up $3.80 on the news.
It doesn't mention silver, but the question is will they use this and/or some pumped up economic figures to get silver down to around $16.50 to knock out the possibility of calls at that strike taking physical delivery, or will they be satisfied knocking out the big call at $18?
Agreed, good post.
"They will bring up how the find is miniscule in the big picture and that the mine will not become productive for at least 10 years and how current demand will continue to force prices sky high."
I think the point is they are losing control of the commodities derivatives ponzi and this will give them a steady stream of uncorroborated media (amoungst other agenda forfilling reasons) to be able to move markets for the insiders. The same will happen in Africa.
Free markets are dead. Total Fascism.
I've seen this exact story before...it was BreX.
http://x3etfhell.blogspot.com/2009/11/history-of-douchebags-nov-19th-200...
Well, not the "exact" story... this time it's USAx.
This is going to be fun.
Of course the entire story could be placed specifically to _encourage_ a drop in the price of gold. After all, none of the other ploys seems to have worked.
JP Morgan with all its short positions must be exuberant right about now... jumping for joy at the windfall that they will make from a temporary drop in prices due to this "discovery."
JPM probably had a hand in developing the fabrication.
The entire region (Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, former Soviet states) becomes very unstable. Furthermore, I don't think that Russia and China will allow US to succeed.
Furthermore, following the recent Russian liquidation of the Polish elite, Eastern Europe becomes also very unstable.
Stability isn't a good thing in and of itself, particularly as regards Iran. Destablizing it is a top notch plan.
minerals in Afghanistan? Yawn, this is old news.
Same goes for Africa.
Natural resources are finite in the short term, but discoveries occur on a continuous scale. As we have come to discover, particularly with the BP disaster, the problem is extraction more than it is knowing where the natural resource deposits are located.
Old news indeed.
The opening post is a bit misleading.
The discovery was done nearly 31 years ago. This is why US needed to despatch a small team of investigators only to confirm a previously made discovery. The locations, the maps, everything was determined and discovered before.
A bit like a treasure hunt.
This shed a new light on the invasion of Afghanistan as the locations of the ore deposits were known before. Another striking bit of duplicity by the US.
1 Trillion = very poor ROI.
Exactly what I was thinking. Perhaps we'll be using a new Afghani currency in the future because one trillion FRNs just aren't what they once were.
I mean it cost over $1 Trillion so far for these 2 wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. And it has been the longest war in U.S. history. So even if they ended both wars today...what a terrible return. And that is excluding the lives wasted.
In my estimation the rare metals are what they are after there. I'm sure nobody will see the reports on those until the mining has already started.
1 Trillion Today
10 Trillion in 10 years.
Lithium is a very hard to get after metal these days and will become more and more important in the future. It also puts on a cool show when you get it wet ;-)
PS - I thought Bolivia was the Saudi Arabia of Lithium???
Double Post
Double Post
Double Post
spend a bunch of printed paper in order to get a country...i can't think of a better ROI
lol, good point, even if it was all here now its negative isnt it?
Seriously. Besides, why would the US get the gold or minerals. Doesn't it belong to the Afghanis? : )
Now we know why the Taliban wanted to keep everyone out. They wanted to keep their trillion $ SECRET stash of resources all for themselves!
BUSTED!
Will the US build a new biggest embassy in the world, like the one in Iraq, or just the 2nd biggest?
I am sure they are there temporarily, but why not build some permanent digs in the meantime?
Resource wars. How many had to die to invade a country and install a puppet. Ahh, has always been thus, will alwas be thus.
Personally I thought they were there for purely altruistic reasons.
Knowing what happened in Iraq with oil, other countries will end up with the goodies. We pay, they play.
Darn it. I had hoped once Soros got control of the herion trade I could get hit for $2.00 dollars in the USA.
I have to travel to Vietnam to get my fix for that price.
now to figure out how to pay off the other 400 billion and we break even this year!
How about a windfall profits tax from the multinational oil companies in Iraq... remember the other war... the one that wasn't about oil?
http://www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/chevronprogram/chevronprogramint...
what an amazing happenstance
So this is the big bullshit story I was waiting for!!!!!
They'll leach a few tons of gold supply from what was stolen and claim it will never end from afghanistan. LOL
Nah... they'll just strap some ultra visible gold-plated tungsten bars to around a 1,000 camel caravan... and then have them circle around a mountain in front of the MSM cameras!
Inflation problem solved!
LOL. Here's the new recruiting movie for the army.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8z7-DIa1As&feature=related
Christ... for a moment I thought it was Karzais' Loya Jirga!
From the NYT article...
Looks like the fucktards are loading up on lithium to treat Americas next "Great Depresssion". But we cannot in all good conscience allow the Taliban access to their gold or they will certainly come back to take away more of our freedoms that they hate so much... by forcing us to declare Marshall law on ourselves!
I think you mean "Martial Law" (as in military administered law).
No... Marshall as in Susan Marshall an old ex of mine... she was tough as nails! (Kidding)
Kids... just say no to drugs!
So did Alexander. The common soldier was wise enough to rise up and say 'enough'.
As I said in a different post, this smacks of the typical Administration misdirection at a time when McChrystal said it is going to take longer than he thought, Karzai the Magnificent is making goo goo eyes at the Taliban and even the right-wingers are calling for us to get out. What credibility do these clowns have?
Oh, fuckin'-A, we'll just tell the Whole World staying a while longer is Good for Democracy while we strip mine the forsaken place. No remedial land reclamation costs.
Cheap Eco-Fix and Endearing Foreign Policy PR.
I say we Go For It!
I wana see those core samples.
Salted or unsalted?
apple or pear?
This could truly be great news and literally a game changer for world trajectory....
IF TeamBO &/or the economic power circles dont F this up.
The US now can literally "nation build" because Afghanistan now has a viable, legitimate, economic basis upon which to build a society.
Hopefully the US can help these people build a country free of the dependency upon the opium trade AND Taliban/Islamic-Theocracy elements.
They should create a company, call it something nationalistic like "Afganning" [Afghan Mining], in which each citizen/family receives equal shares of the company, and of course it's profits, and those shares can, for the first 100 years, ONLY be bequeathed to their direct descendants - if there are no descendants then the shares revert to the Afghan people to be distributed equally. That way the next few generations grow up living, learning and receiving the benefits of a capitalist economic system.
It could create a real hope for Afghanistan's national viability and identity, as well as provide the US a noble exit strategy.
I just hope they dont F this thing up....
AMDG
Knight
we'll install some puppet for the return of selling it to us cheap, just like we did with Saudi oil......c'mon now.
The puppet is already there...
That's exactly the kind of Fup we dont need. But history says.... you're right.
Actually, this "Discovery" is an excuse to stay "4 More Years" (or is that 40 more years ?)
Keep dreaming. The opium trade in Afghanistan is a cash cow for the CIA.
"The US now can literally "nation build""
You mean establish a tyranny similar to their own?
"because Afghanistan now has a viable, legitimate, economic basis upon which to build a society."
You mean it was unviable and illegitimate in your view?
"Hopefully the US can help these people build a country free of the dependency upon the opium trade AND Taliban/Islamic-Theocracy elements."
What is wrong with being a pharmaceutical entrepeneur? Or being religious? After the US invades your homes, what changes should they make?
"of course it's profits, and those shares can, for the first 100 years, ONLY be bequeathed to their direct descendants - if there are no descendants then the shares revert to the Afghan people to be distributed equally."
Cool, what other plans do you have for distributing other people's property?
"That way the next few generations grow up living, learning and receiving the benefits of a capitalist economic system."
Cool. When will Americans be able to do that?
"provide the US a noble exit strategy."
How about, don't invade other people's land and kill them in the first place?
My thoughts exactly.
Thanks for the glimmer of sanity and uncommon sense.
I am Chumbawamba.
Well said.
My sides were splitting with laughter at the wonderful web of sarcasm in this post. Then i read the replies and went cold.
Knight please tell you are kidding pal?
No, I wasnt. Folks like you and the others would have been the ones standing around pre-Civil War saying 'well it cant be done'.
All things are possible, when they are right.
Those who think it can not be done because it is not easy, or seems impossible are among those poor pathetic souls who know neither victory or defeat but rather their own pathetic selfishness and meaninglessness
AMDG
Knight
I doubt many here are sayin' 'it can't be done' HCSK, not really. What they are saying though is that, like Russia, and anyone else who has tried over the entire course of recorded history, 'it can't be done' by the US. 'Shouldn't' may be even more appropriate. The US isn't very well known around the world for 'spreading freedom'; in case you weren't aware of that incredibly obvious fact. Though I'm sure that ,operating under a grave misapprehension, "Folks like you and the others would have been standing around..." pre-Vietnam saying "Well, it can be done", having absolutely no clue at all what really needed to be done, if anything. But man do you know what you've been told needed to be done. I'd bet you're really good at doing what you're told. So I am telling you: sit down. Please.
"would have been the ones standing around pre-Civil War saying 'well it cant be done'."
Do you mean the politicians, or one of the 600,000 dead?
Because, there was no way to end the practice of slavery without killing your own countrymen and burning their cities to the ground, right?
And well, every other country in the world fought an internal war that resulted in the deaths of 2% of their population to end the practice, right?
You do realize that the "Civil War" and the American Revolution were two seperate things don't you?
There is more to history than what you learned in your 6th grade "Social Studies" textbook. Anybody talking about the "glory" of any war is a liar or fool.
Get your head out of your ass.
God damn, I mean, are you really referring to wholesale slaughter on an industrial scale as some kind of "Glorious Cause"? What the hell is wrong with you?
You neocons think the answer to everything = kill/invade.
Come now Rusty. Did you really get all of that out of what I said?
The common denominator is all of this is the nature, the fallen nature, of man. So the Civil War and the American Revolution, which by the way are the names used by those on the "victors" side, are not separate things but the same thing.
As for your jump to my being a neocon, well I'm not surprised by what you see. Police "see" more criminals than exist, nurses "see" more sick people than exist, social workers "see" more poor than exist, social liberals who think they have a right to take the property of another to give to someone they see as disadvantaged "see" a world filled with neocons.
At least the people of Medievil times "saw" the world through such things as "may God have mercy on our souls" before they did what they believed right.
Today's social "progressive" believe animals have more rights than man and that god is known by the chemical repsonse they experience to outside stimuli.
AMDG
I have every belief it can be done, it just should not be done by us. lt is not our Country.
"How about, don't invade other people's land and kill them in the first place?"
Or at least kill the more problematic ones first, with air power say, or using proxies, and then invade.
I thought he was referring to the twin towers when he said "...don't invade ..."
"What is wrong with being a pharmaceutical entrepeneur? Or being religious?"
In the spirit of Global Equality, can't let them little rag-a-muffins cling to their dope, AK's and Korans now, can we.
Re: "You mean establish a tyranny similar to their own?"
No you ass hole, I mean REAL nation building. Really help the Afghan people build a nation FOR the Afghan people. It's people like you who read what they WANT to see as opposed to what's written that are part of the problem.
Re: "What is wrong with being a pharmaceutical entrepeneur? Or being religious? After the US invades your homes, what changes should they make?"
Never said anything was wrong with other industries or economies, they are simply not relevant here. For obvious reasons. As for the "US invades your homes" BS, it only shows your ignorance of what is going on, and went on.
Re: "Cool, what other plans do you have for distributing other people's property?"
WTF? You are obviously a moron?
Re: "How about, don't invade other people's land and kill them in the first place?"
QED, you're a moron. Unbelieveably naieve, ignorant, selfish and immature moron.
STFU kthxbye
First, give me one example of nation building by a foreign power that is magnanimous. No, give give me one example by the US of doing it for the reasons you stated: Haiti? Grenada? Iraq?Vietnam?
Then, explain to the thousands of families that have lost their sons and daughters for absolutely nothing.
Finally, what makes you think we know enough about the Afgan people to "build" their nation?
You see a shining city in the clouds, when in reality, this is just another opportunity to steal the wealth of another colony while we allow a few local politicians grow rich. History is replete with examples of human nature and it's actions. What makes you think this will be different? Hope? HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
re "History is replete with examples of human nature and it's actions. What makes you think this will be different?"
True. But that does not mean that one should simply give up on that which is right. All things are possible through...
Btw, the politicians will do the will of the people IF the people have the will to demand it of them. So if you want to look in the mirror and fight for what you wrote, so be it. But it is that which you fight for that defines you.
AMDG
Re: "You mean establish a tyranny similar to their own?"
No you ass hole, I mean REAL nation building. Really help the Afghan people build a nation FOR the Afghan people. It's people like you who read what they WANT to see as opposed to what's written that are part of the problem.
Re: "What is wrong with being a pharmaceutical entrepeneur? Or being religious? After the US invades your homes, what changes should they make?"
Never said anything was wrong with other industries or economies, they are simply not relevant here. For obvious reasons. As for the "US invades your homes" BS, it only shows your ignorance of what is going on, and went on.
Re: "Cool, what other plans do you have for distributing other people's property?"
WTF? You are obviously a moron?
Re: "How about, don't invade other people's land and kill them in the first place?"
QED, you're a moron. Unbelieveably naieve, ignorant, selfish and immature moron.
lol, omg whatever.
Hehe, yah CPL. Didn't your momma tell you it was dangerous to feed the trolls?
Never going to happen unless the majority ethnic group the Pashtuns is allowed to take back control of the country. There will be another civil war as the minority populations backed by the US, the Tajiks and Uzbeks are knocked out of power.
The Pashtun are spread between Afghanistan and Pakistan. They are the majority ethnic group in Afghanistan and their military wing is the Taliban. The US backed the Pastuns back in the 70s-80s when the Tajiks and Uzbeks aligned themselves with the Soviets. The US turned on the Taliban when they gave rights to build oil pipelines to an Argentinian company Bridas.
http://www.defence.pk/forums/u-s-foreign-affairs/33935-unocal-bridas-taliban-turkmanistan-gas-pipeline.html
And as luck would have it, they don't really care about longer-life and cheaper batteries for the iPads. The savages...
Nice!
I've seen it here in India and it makes me seeth. American innoculated and promoted mouthpieces telling everyone how good capitalism, dead-end jobs and union-free slave wage manufacturing jobs are for everyone, because now they can buy a TV and get a motorcycle and a cell phone. As if that supply side mindset is what has brought the west into such a glorious state of perpetual debt, sick and enslaved (overtly and covertly) populations and a rudderless ship of state and nation heading smack into an iceberg. 80% of them will probably be watching it happen on TV.
Damn this whole system we have allowed to grow upon us.
It will take doing to bring down though.
Come by, participate and get In-Dust-Real with me at
http://aadivaahan.wordpress.com
Pity that the US is so full of their own bullshit and think they control the world.
Had a smirk as to Kissingass' role in the whole venture.
Typical pathetic and weak anarchist who looks for his truth and defines himself by the failure of others.
The same ignorant, selfish, pathetic things could have been pointed to in the history of EVERY successful nation's history.
You need anarchy as an ideology because the pathetic thing you see in the mirror each day needs it to feel ..... worthy of breath.
"Pathetic... weak... ignorant... idiot..."
I surmise that HCSKnight uses ad hominems in every post because he lacks a sufficient base of knowledge on which to build logical argumentation. Without a strong grasp of economic science, one is doomed to stumble in the dark, wallowing in emotional and irrational thinking. I would be angry too.
get a fucking clue. we support the heroin trade, and we don't give a shit about the afghan people. noble exit strategy? what is wrong with your brain?
Clue? Right... Another pathetic soul who believes in the evil he sees and hears and is too afraid to stand up and give his life to that which is greater. He'd rather cling to beliefs that allow him to crawl back to his selfishness and despair.
is too afraid to stand up and give his life to that which is greater.
What about you go first bub, you know as a good example and all?
"too afraid to stand up and give his life to that which is greater"
Meh.
Let me guess... to the greater glory of god? Ad maiorem Dei gloriam?
G O D
i want some herion to close out this hell.
have to sniff it though, afraid of needles.
funny how these things just seem to work out..........
Here's another funny.
China invades Tibet, and ... look at that ... Tibet has valuable mineral deposits.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/25/your-money/25iht-mine.4338449.html
Wow, comrade dudes, who woulda guessed? Funny how things work out.
Most of these minerals were known to exist back in the 50's and 60's when the USA and USSR occupied Afghanistan.
http://www.knowledgerush.com/kr/encyclopedia/Timeline_of_Afghan_history/
I am not concerned about the Afgan gold discovery driving gold prices down. When the cost of an entire US Army for mine protection is added to the extraction cost of $400-700 per oz the cost of any gold coming from Afganistan will be astronomical. Afgan gold coming to market would drive gold prices up, not down.
More bs from a US Gov running scared from gold.
I sense a buying opportunity here!!! we all know bringing a mine online is a quick and speedy process......only a matter of weeks until the market is flooded with all this "new" supply!
"a small team of Pentagon officials"
What the fuck is their definition of "Pentagon officials"?
I can hear it now: "Hey guys, things are a little slow around here, let's drag the ground penetrating radar around and see what we find".
Geeesh . . . give me a fucking break.
Anytime you see the terms "officials" or "experts" used by the dinosaur news expect the quotes associated with them to be complete BS.
Yep. Kinda like saying: "He's in a meeting..."
And when losers like you say it .... it has meaning and truth. At least the guy who wrote the NYT article [and I despise the NYT] had the guts to put his name on the story. You.... just another pathetic online, one line, idiot.
Luckily those geoligists were there with them otherwise they wouldn't have found it.
Pentagon Business development officials at a meeting:
" Nice little business you got here, pal. Be a real shame if anything happened to it. That's why the Pentagon is gonna be your new business partner. For your protection, catch my drift?"
The vast scale of Afghanistan’s mineral wealth was discovered by a small team of Pentagon officials and American geologists.
I don't see where it mentions there were actually 'boots on the ground..'
Why not HAARP...??
Anyone notice the preponderance of earthquakes for awhile now..?
Maybe the technology needs a bit of tweaking; not perfected yet...
Would be even better if there are rare earth metals there. China has a 90% lock on those elements critical to the military, permanent magnets, hi-tech batteries (think Prius), phosphors for your computer screens, etc.
China only has a lock because they drove down the costs below what the US could mine and refine it for. When costs go high enough more mines will come online.
Very astute!
There are some great plays in some western US rare earth mines right now!
The only way we can compete right now is with government loan guarantees and large tax incentives. The US taxpayer will be subsidising any new mines for a long time.
Only one pure play. Moly Corp. Largest cache of rare earths in the US. It's privately owned last by Chevron. Supposed to be going public but GS and some hedgies have bets in already. Maybe you are thinking Canadia? (that is what I call Canada)
Or maybe you are thinking gold companies that have some rare earths?
Right -- RRLMF.pk and AVARF.PK are two. Also, Goldman has a stake in Molycorp which isn't (yet) public and is the big gorilla in the field.
Goldman divested their interest in Molycorp back in March 2010. Neo Material Tech has a working agreement with Molycorp on the mine to market side of things. Other interesting plays in that space include Avalon, Lynas, Great Western Minerals (GMWGF), Rare Element Resources (RES.V).
Maybe GS knew of the "findings" in Afghanistan. But thank you for the update! :)
You assume that people will then be able to afford the resultant products. I don't believe that this will happen; what we will continue to have is an unwinding of "economies of scale," in which case stuff will end up staying in the ground because it isn't important enough (food, shelter, water...).
Since when do we fucking pay Pentagon officials to prospect? Shouldn't they be busy watching porn?
"A gold mine is a hole in the ground with a liar standing next to it." - Mark Twain
The Pentagon et al sense that they're about to be kicked out. They're trying to justify their existence.
Hey, military, if private interests wanna finance that extraction and hire your boys as mercenaries down the line, they'll do it. Nation-states are on the outs.
At least they can now claim to be there for more than the herion trade.
This was reported by Globalresearch.ca back on February 1st.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=17322
But in all honesty, we are there to protect our freedoms at home and spread peace loving democracy abroad.
I'm super cereal.
The New York Times scooped by Global Research...
That's why I like GlobalResearch.ca...
Rove , you magnificent bastard .
This will not drive gold prices down in any meaningful way. Period.
SOOooo,,, You're saying I shouldn't have sold out?
Might as well just start appointing Proconsuls at this point.
Um, has anyone ever found trillions of dollars of minerals before? What kind of exploration needs to happen before one can jump to this conclusion? There may be untapped mining resources there, but it is unlikely that the data exists to make this kind of bold prediction. Think about it.
... like a small team of Pentagon officials are going to find the mother lode......
... in Afganistan, where everyone wants to kill them or blow them up.....
There are two possibilities: #1 - The story is complete bullshit, spinning old news into new blue sky. Or, #2 - as you alluded to, how do you predict a trillion? You predict a trillion when you have reason to believe there is at least that amount. A real game changer? Doubt it.
I'll bet an Eagle on #1.
There are large deposits and a bunch of contenders itching to get them. China and India are the most viable contenders. The road system the USA and the Russians built in the 50's and 60's will be used to transport the minerals out directly to India and chian. Unfortunately for India, the Pastuns and their representative Pakistan have veto power via the gun. China needs to cut a deal with the Pashtuns to be sucessful. So far the copper mine they are building is going reasonably OK. Lots of bribes and protection by the US military have been a major factor.
I'd bet you a krugerand which most people think is russian gold but is really south african gold. I'd bet you a krugerand that these deposits would have shown up in south africa if there was anyone left there that needed to be have inferior position explained to them.
A trillion dollars isn't what it used to be.
Like someone said before let's see the samples. I call bullshit. I'm sure I'd get great results too if mortars and rockets were raining down while I was sampling.
They have...it was called BreX
http://x3etfhell.blogspot.com/2009/11/history-of-douchebags-nov-19th-200...
Trouble is: Jed Clampett owns the entire area, and he said he don't want no Trillion Dollars. He just wants regular dollars.
...was discovered by a small team of Pentagon officials and American geologists.
The world is mine:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7IkUR49jdM
+1,000!
Looks like the fever is catching Buzzy!
Brace yourselves. Last try to up the market and suppress gold for options expiration week.
Watch GS jump 20% this week and gold to stay within $6 trading range.
But if it breaks to new highs, so much the better.
"IMF Is Selling Gold" is soooo last year
"Gold Found In Afghanistan" is the new "IMF Is Selling Gold"
LOL
Hey it looks legit to me. If you don't believe them go there and check for yourself. They won't shoot you with a helicopter. Honest.
As a mining engineer who spent many years combing the earth for something to mine (just like my hero!!!, Herbert Hoover), i can attest that Americans are the last to know about this shit.
But hey. I just finished reading Paulsons book this weekend. So I'll give you Yanks a couple of weeks to catch up to the rest of the world. Center of the earth and all.
Wasted weekend...
Could these deposits really be Rare Earth Metals and not gold/silver/lithium? I know the DoD had been interested in securing new sources of REMs from someone other than China.
From the full article:
WTF!
The copper deposits were discovered by the Soviets. They did a pretty good job. I've been over plenty of their discoveries in the past five years. To think you Yanks know your ass from a copper deposit is a real stretch.
Rightie-O's, me bungole's the one with a right proper patina it is, matie! Ere, an' you thought you could twist the ol'noggin off me goofie, what?
As noted by a couple of people, mineral deposits have always been a given (and in all the Stans over there as well).
But, it's really about much more, it's about the US maintaining its super-power status (read Brezinski's The Grand Chessboard).
Here's an article by Pepe Escobar that's pretty comprehensive:
Tomgram: Pepe Escobar, Pipelineistan Goes Af-Pak
http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175071/pepe_escobar_pipelineistan_goes_a...
this is a close hold - there are some large mineral reserves cibritus, silver, diamonds, gold, platinum. aluminium in Mars, estimated at over trillions of dollars. The problem is that in Mars the minerals dissolve once are mined - so, unfortunately cannot be brought down to Earth. However, for accounting purposes since the minerals will be proved to exist beyond the resonable doubt, I would not be suprised if it will be accounted in the books of IMF especially the more valuable and less available ones. These are minerals from another planet so, presumably other members of IMF have mining rights as well....well, I know other members of IMF did not discover the reserves, but we are not talking about anything REAL - just for accounting books, so I dont think it will be a big fight about it....after all they can always raise the estimates to satisfy everyone....why not right? expect the prices to crash.
Mars? Fucking Mars? Wow! Hey, why stop at Mars? If we could bring freaking hydrogen from the Sun we'll be all set... until we run out of oxygen.
I'd sooo want to carry Titan on my Balance sheet :D
From Wikipedia:
Titan has hundreds of times more liquid hydrocarbons than all the known oil and natural gas reserves on Earth, according to Cassini data from 2008. The hydrocarbons rain from the sky, collecting in vast deposits that form lakes and dunes.
And please for the love of god nobody make any jokes about drilling for methane around Uranus.
What's a trillion anyway. Our deficit is more than that every year.
Oh fuck... he's right. This buys us what... 3 1/2 months?
You know, even if this were true, why are we wringing our hands as if we would get a penny out of it.
I would assume Afghanistan would probably want to sell their own minerals, since it has a "Democratically Elected Sovereign Government" and all.
How many of those Iraqi oil contracts went to US companies?
All the ones that weren't "vetoed" by blackwater.
How many competent geologists would choose to explore in Afghanistan? Yeah, these guys must be the cream of the crop!
How many competent geologists would choose to explore in Afghanistan? Yeah, these guys must be the cream of the crop!
How many competent geologists would choose to explore in Afghanistan? Yeah, these guys must be the cream of the crop!
How many competent geologists would choose to explore in Afghanistan? Yeah, these guys must be the cream of the crop!
Got it the first three times you posted it.