Central Asian Mining Services (CAMS) has been contracted to assist in a survey of lithium deposits in Afghanistan. The country is believed to contain significant quantities of lithium in both salar form (dry lakes) and pegmatite form (hard rock).

The development of these deposits could yield significant and rapid benefits to the developing Afghan economy.

An initial study of the deposits was conducted in Afghanistan by the United States Geological Survey in 2007 and followed on by US Department of Defense technical teams in 2010. This work estimated a total potential resource base of all lithium salar deposits in the country at US$1.2 billion.

To further define the economic potential of these formations, CENTAR was contracted by the US Department of Defense in May 2014 to conduct preliminary exploration of the salar formation at Dasht-e-Nawar in southern Afghanistan.

The aim of the program is to gain an understanding of the concentration of the lithium brines that may exist within the formation and to understand the general size, shape and strata of the formation itself. Research is being conducted by CAMS with US DoD/Task Force for Business Operations. This includes 400 metres of sonic drilling and analysis of the formation’s geophysics through a gravity survey over a period from early June through the end of September 2014.

Samples will be sent to two major international ICP testing laboratories with extensive experience testing lithium brines.

Very little research has been conducted at Dasht-e-Nawar prior to this engagement. As a result, the primary aim of the work is to gather enough information to provide sufficient basis for immediate investment to occur in a larger, more comprehensive exploration program.

This would ostensibly occur after a competitive public tender of exploration rights in Afghanistan, and would then be undertaken by a qualified and capable private sector investor. A timetable for the use of the information collected in this project has not yet been established.

CAMS is a full service exploration, drilling and mining support company headquartered in Kabul, Afghanistan, providing turn-key solutions throughout the minerals exploration life-cycle to Afghanistan’s developing mining industry and the Central Asian region.

CAMS' team of internationally respected drilling, mining and exploration professionals combined with highly dynamic Afghan professionals are uniquely tailored to operate in Afghanistan’s challenging environment and the greater Central Asian region. http://cams-mining.com