In the first two months of 1403 (solar year), eight mining contracts were signed with an investment volume reaching $40 million.

The Ministry of Mines and Petroleum said that the signed contracts with domestic companies include two large mines and six small mines.

The large mines include the Jegdalek ruby mine in Kabul and the barite mine in Herat. The six small mines include two nephrite mines, two marble mines, one fluorite mine, and one lead and zinc mine.

The spokesman for the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum, Homayoun Afghan, told TOLOnews: “The investment volume on these two large mines is about $33 million, and we had six small-scale contracts through open tenders with domestic companies. These mines include nephrite and marble mines located in various provinces.”

A number of experts emphasize the processing of mines within the country. They said that the money earned from the mines should be spent on the country's infrastructure sectors.

“We should advance mining extraction in a more excellent and permanent way. Because if a foreign country comes and extracts, that’s it. If we find the ability to extract these mines, we can continue job creation and raise our graph,” said Ahmad Firdaws Behgozin, an economic affairs expert.

“More mines should go towards extraction and contracts, where the capacity for processing and production is possible within the country. That is, we should extract and tender those mines for which we have production facilities inside the country,” said Abdul Nasir Reshtia, another economic affairs expert.

According to statistics from the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum, so far, more than 150 small mines have been contracted to domestic companies, and 30 large mines have been contracted to Chinese, Iranian, Turkish, Qatari, and some other countries that also have Afghan partners.