The acting director of the National Museum, Mohammad Zubair Ebadi, said that 315 relics that were discovered from the Mas Aynak mining site in Logar province were handed over to Afghanistan’s National Museum.

He said that some of the relics date back to the Kushan Empire.

“Excavations were carried out in the Mes Aynak mining site in Logar province and 315 relics were discovered and were transferred to the National Museum,” Ebadi added.

The Culture and Information Ministry said that for the progress of the project and finding relics from the Mes Aynak Copper Mine in Logar, a memorandum of understanding has been signed with UNESCO and the Aga Khan Foundation.

Wayand Abdal Maten Qani, a spokesman for Information and Information Ministry, said that it is expected that the relics discovered from Mes Aynak Logar will be put on display on World Museum Day in Kabul.

The Ministry of Mines and Petroleum said in a press conference on Sunday that due to the existence of relics, work on the Mes Aynak Logar project has been delayed.

“Right now, the ministry’s security team is working to protect the area,” said Abdul Rahman Ayobi, the deputy minister of mines and petroleum.

“The existence of relics is the only reason that we cannot resume work on the Mes Aynak mining project in Logar,” Azrakhsh Hafizi, an analyst.

The contract for the Mes Aynak mining project in Logar was signed in 2008 with MCC, a Chines company, but the process of extracting copper from the site has not started so far.