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At Karkar, in the mountains near Pul-i-Khumri, are coal reserves totalling 4,000,000 tons, while at least 40,000 tons remain at Ishpushta, which gives Kabul its present coal supply. About 63 miles northeast of Herat are other reserves of hard lump coal totalling at least another 1,000,000 tons.
Mr. Owings estimated that at the present rate of coal extraction in Afghanistan—about 15,000 tons a year—proved reserves of 20,000,000 tons would last 1333 years, or well after the age of nuclear energy may have made coal less important.
On the same trip, the mining engineers looked over iron ore deposits at Haji-Alam, about 25 miles east of Kajaki Dam (Kandahar Province). The iron ore here, in hematite form, assays an average of 64 per cent iron content. Mr. Owings says, "This is an average much higher than the average of ore in the famous Mesabi iron range of Minnesota, which has afforded most of the ore for the American steel industry."
Afghanistan, according to these engineers, also has sizable quantities of chrome and sulphur. There is a deposit of more than a million tons of high grade sulphur 35 miles west of Mazar-i-Sharif, for which, in Mr. Owing's opinion, there should be an excellent market in India and Pakistan.
The output of minerals at present, due to lack of necessary implements and transport facilities, is very slight. Some coal of jurassic type is obtained from Ishpushta, 180 miles north of Kabul, and is transported to the capital by means of trucks, and is used locally. Another coal-mine which is being worked, lies at Karkar, ten miles from Baghlan. Coal extracted from this mine is consumed by the Baghlan Sugar Mills, and a part is utilized by the Textile Factory at Puli-Khumri. The seam of
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