According to media reports, Afghanistan's Ministry of Mines has approved seven companies as bidders for the development of the country's Hajigak iron ore deposit and of other deposits in the surrounding areas.
The participants in the tender process, which is expected to end in a mining contract, include Indian companies Sesa Goa, Essar Minerals, Ispat Industries, JSW Steel, Rashtriya Ispat Nigam, Chinese company China Metallurgical Group, and the Saudi Arabian-Pakistani company Tuwairqi Steel Mills.
As SteelOrbis previously reported, the Hajigak iron deposit has an estimated resource base of about 1.8 billion mt with an estimated ore grade of 62 percent iron. The iron ore resources in question occur in 16 ore bodies, as large as 5 km in length, 380 m wide and over 550 m deep, along a zone over 32 km in length. In addition, previous feasibility studies indicate that the ore bodies are amenable to open pit mining methods. There are also available coking coal resources in the region, which provide the possibility of creating an integrated iron and steel facility.
The deposit is located in the mountainous Bamiyan province, 130 km west of Kabul.