KABUL – *Ministry of Mines and Petroleum on Monday said they haveterminated the extraction contract of Herat’s Ghoryan salt mine signed witha private company two months ago following the discovery of mineralsincluding lithium and uranium. *

The spokesman for the ministry of mines Abdul Qadir Mutfi said their recentstudies showed that these minerals are present at the mine. As such theyhave terminated the contract with the contractor, he said.

Ghoryan salt mine is the only mining contract to have been signed by theNational Unity Government (NUG).

“This was a small contract and was contracted as a pilot extraction, but weare trying to ensure the country’s mines are extracted based on thecountry’s needs,” Mutfi said.

The contractors were not however happy about the new development and saidit took them two years and a lot of money to secure the contract.

Nasir Ahmad Tahiri, the head of the contracting company, said in additionto preliminary investments made in the mine, they have had to pay money tomeet the conditions of the contract.

According to Tahiri, the termination of the contract means a huge financialloss to them.

“The economic council and mining ministry worked on this mine for twoyears. It should be asked why the ministry of mines did not assess the mineto find out if there was salt or something else (before awarding thecontract),” said Tahiri.

“This shows that government does not have the capacity to manage the mines.This was a small contract and they signed after a few years, butnow they say it has been terminated,” Zaman Hashimi, a mining expert said.

Mutfi said however they will reimburse the company for the money paid out.