In In an initiative spearheaded by the Indian School of Mines, India is providing advanced training in mining technology and sustainable development of natural resources to engineers from Afghanistan.
“The overall objective of the collaboration in the mineral and mining sector is empowering and training Afghan human resource in developing capacities, taking social aspects of mining into consideration, ensuring sustainable development, adopting best practices and benign extraction of minerals,” said Gurdeep Singh, head of the Centre for Environmental Sciences at the ISM.
ISM would also be collaborating with the Afghan government’s Mines Ministry for development of the National Institute of Mining Afghanistan, that would include the development of a curriculum for training in metals and coal mining, mineral economics, environmental and related health sciences, contract management and legal framework for a mineral market economy.
The programmes would be funded through the Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund of the World Bank. As the programmes are expanded, additional funding requirements would be met from the Indian government’s existing lines of credit already announced under India-Afghanistan bilateral aid treaties.
“ISM’s involvement in Afghan mining sector received a fillip from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Kabul, last May. In wake of this, we have customised programmes for Afghan engineers who will be coming to our institute in batches round the year,” Singh said.
Currently, a batch of 22 Afghan engineers are undergoing an advanced training programme at ISM. To date, a total of 43 mining engineers have completed the training course, which includes visits to various mines in India for familiarisation with best practices and the challenges of mining in remote areas. “There are no fixed targets on the number of engineers that will come to ISM. It is an ongoing programme. However, the number of Afghan engineers that will arrive depends on a large number of issues like security aspects, clearances and availability of human resources. These issues are looked into by India’s External Affairs Ministry in consultation with the Mines Ministry,” Singh said.
ISM was set up in 1920 in Dhanbad, in the heart of the coal mining belt in eastern India to impart mining education but has now expanded, offering a host of graduate and postgraduate programmes in mining engineering, business administration and humanities.
“The goal of ISM’s involvement in Afghanistan is to build up a whole ecosystem in that country that will enable development and sustain mineral asset extraction capacities in that country though active participation and collaboration with Indian metallurgical companies,” an official in India’s Mines Ministry said.
According to a US geological survey, Afghanistan’s mineral resources of iron-ore, copper, cobalt, gold, coal and lithium are of an estimated value of $1-trillion. Some estimates peg this at a higher $3-trillion.
The Afghan Mines Ministry has received bids from 22 companies, including 15 from India, for the development of the 1.8-billion ton iron-ore reserve at Hajigak in Bamiyan province in central Afghanistan.
The Indian bids are through two consortiums led by NMDC Limited, the largest Indian iron-ore miner and Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL), the largest integrated steel producer, which has also proposed setting up a three-million ton steelmaking facility linked to the proposed Hajigak mine.
The Indian government has agreed to part fund the bids from its $1.9-billion corpus earmarked for development of projects in Afghanistan.
The process of evaluation and selection of the bids is to be completed by August 3, 2011 and bidders’ commitment to corporate social responsibility and sustainable development practices would be the major factor in evaluating the bids, according to Wahidullah Shahrani, Afghanistan’s Mines Minister.
“To ensure that Indian companies are in a position to offer a complete developmental model in Afghanistan, Indian training and education institutions in the mining sector have been involved. This is also to reinforce the message of India’s long term commitment in the country,” an official in India’s Mines Ministry said.
“The overall objective of the collaboration in the mineral and mining sector is empowering and training Afghan human resource in developing capacities, taking social aspects of mining into consideration, ensuring sustainable development, adopting best practices and benign extraction of minerals,” said Gurdeep Singh, head of the Centre for Environmental Sciences at the ISM.
ISM would also be collaborating with the Afghan government’s Mines Ministry for development of the National Institute of Mining Afghanistan, that would include the development of a curriculum for training in metals and coal mining, mineral economics, environmental and related health sciences, contract management and legal framework for a mineral market economy.
The programmes would be funded through the Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund of the World Bank. As the programmes are expanded, additional funding requirements would be met from the Indian government’s existing lines of credit already announced under India-Afghanistan bilateral aid treaties.
“ISM’s involvement in Afghan mining sector received a fillip from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Kabul, last May. In wake of this, we have customised programmes for Afghan engineers who will be coming to our institute in batches round the year,” Singh said.
Currently, a batch of 22 Afghan engineers are undergoing an advanced training programme at ISM. To date, a total of 43 mining engineers have completed the training course, which includes visits to various mines in India for familiarisation with best practices and the challenges of mining in remote areas. “There are no fixed targets on the number of engineers that will come to ISM. It is an ongoing programme. However, the number of Afghan engineers that will arrive depends on a large number of issues like security aspects, clearances and availability of human resources. These issues are looked into by India’s External Affairs Ministry in consultation with the Mines Ministry,” Singh said.
ISM was set up in 1920 in Dhanbad, in the heart of the coal mining belt in eastern India to impart mining education but has now expanded, offering a host of graduate and postgraduate programmes in mining engineering, business administration and humanities.
“The goal of ISM’s involvement in Afghanistan is to build up a whole ecosystem in that country that will enable development and sustain mineral asset extraction capacities in that country though active participation and collaboration with Indian metallurgical companies,” an official in India’s Mines Ministry said.
According to a US geological survey, Afghanistan’s mineral resources of iron-ore, copper, cobalt, gold, coal and lithium are of an estimated value of $1-trillion. Some estimates peg this at a higher $3-trillion.
The Afghan Mines Ministry has received bids from 22 companies, including 15 from India, for the development of the 1.8-billion ton iron-ore reserve at Hajigak in Bamiyan province in central Afghanistan.
The Indian bids are through two consortiums led by NMDC Limited, the largest Indian iron-ore miner and Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL), the largest integrated steel producer, which has also proposed setting up a three-million ton steelmaking facility linked to the proposed Hajigak mine.
The Indian government has agreed to part fund the bids from its $1.9-billion corpus earmarked for development of projects in Afghanistan.
The process of evaluation and selection of the bids is to be completed by August 3, 2011 and bidders’ commitment to corporate social responsibility and sustainable development practices would be the major factor in evaluating the bids, according to Wahidullah Shahrani, Afghanistan’s Mines Minister.
“To ensure that Indian companies are in a position to offer a complete developmental model in Afghanistan, Indian training and education institutions in the mining sector have been involved. This is also to reinforce the message of India’s long term commitment in the country,” an official in India’s Mines Ministry said.
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