Balkhab Copper

Location

• Located in the Sar-I-Pul and Balkh Provinces in north central Afghanistan, approximately 130 km south-southwest of Mazar-i-Sharif (population c. 300,000). Mazar-i-Sharif is the capital of Balkh province

exploration

• There is evidence of mineral extraction activities at Balkhab approaching 3,000 years. Likely to have been continuous mining of copper from ancient times to present day via surface and underground workings
• The majority of historical exploration was conducted during 1966-1972. This work consisted of mapping, trench and surface grab sampling and analyses
• Recent work on the Balkhab copper prospect was initiated by the AGS, at the request of villagers in the region. A reconnaissance sampling mission was carried out in 2008 by the Ministry of Mines

geology and mineralisation

• Contains deformed Middle to Late Paleozoic sedimentary and volcanic rocks that are exposed in the central parts of an eroded canyon of the Balkh River. The Paleozoic rocks are overlain unconformably by near-horizontal Mesozoic sedimentary rocks
• Copper-sulphide mineralized zones occur within or proximal to layers of quartzo-feldspathic volcanic rocks, which make up parts of the basement metamorphic sequence
• Many of the quartzo-feldspathic layers are extensively mineralized, in zones centimeters to meters thick, with copper mineralisation occurring as porphyroblastic euhedral cubes of pyrite, chalcopyrite, and bornite

Infrastructure

• Terrain at the site is characterised by steep sloped mountains and deep narrow valleys. The Balkh River runs east-west in between the two licence areas
• Road access to the site is from Mazar-i-Sharif
• Potential to benefit from the proposed rail link connecting Afghanistan to Pakistan. The Chaman-Kandahar-Logar province line is proposed to pass just east of the project area with a station planned at nearby town Ghazni
• Closest power source identified at Mazar-i-Sharif which is connected to the North East Power System main isolated grid
• Main water source for the project is the significant stream, Rode Balkhab, which splits the licence area