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formed lenses on the sea floor. These sediments were subsequently altered by burial and low-grade (greenschist facies) metamorphism and became the basement of the
Helmand Block. This block drifted away from Gondwana supercontinent in the Triassic. During the collision with Eurasia, in the early Cretaceous, faulting juxtaposed the Upper Proterozoic Qala series, the Middle Proterozoic rocks and the Upper Palaeozoic rocks. These fault-bounded blocks are a local characteristic of the Herat fault zone. As the collision progressed, the faulted blocks were folded into a northeastâsouth-west trending anticline the axis of which passes to the north of the area mapped. A series of thrusts developed as indicated by the increased thickness of the iron ore and its host rocks within the central zone at Hajigak. During the final phase of faulting the northâsouth and north-westâsouth-east faults that affect the ore deposits were developed. Later post-Cretaceous extension led to the further development of north-westâsoutheast faults and graben structures filled with young sediments. Subsequent erosion has exposed the core of the Hajigak anticline with the concordant ore bodies on the southeast limb.
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hosted by the Upper
Proterozoic Awband Formation that, together with the underlying Kab Formation, constitutes the Qala Series, a sequence of metavolcanic and metasedimentary rocks up to 4500m thick. The Kab Formation consists of dark grey sandy sericitic schists, interpreted as metamorphosed terrigenous rocks, acid volcanic rocks and minor beds of marble and phyllite. The Awband Formation is made up of schists (quartz-sericite, quartzchlorite-sericite, quartz-sericitechlorite and carbonaceoussericite) that are metamorphosed acid and basic tuffites and argillaceous rocks. Minor cherts and marbles also occur. The Green Schist Formation, a distinctive unit overlying the Awband Formation, consists dominantly of green chlorite schists, and quartz-sericitic schists locally intruded by granodiorites. Some reports consider it as a member of the Awband Formation. Upper Devonian rocks of the Hajigak Formation are faulted against the Green Schist Formation. Strata of Lower Cretaceous and younger age crop out in the south west of the area, unconformable on the older sequences.
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substantial area of thin fragmental ore deposits in the form of four surficial deposits. The main hematitic ore is medium- to fine-grained and displays a variety of massive, banded and porous textures. It occurs in lenses and sheets, within the Awband
Formation. The thickness of the lenses has been indicated by drilling to be up to 100m, while the depth of mineralisation is untested 180m below surface. There are two main ore groups: unoxidised primary ores and semi-oxidised ores. The primary ores occur below 100 m and consist of magnetite and pyrite, and up to 5% chalcopyrite and pyrrhotite. The oxidised ores, extending up to 130m below ground surface, consist mainly of magnetite, martite and hydrogoethite. Two other oxidised ore types, hydrogoethite/hematite/semi-martite and carbonate/semi-martite, occur sporadically in small amounts in the deposit. Alteration that may be related to the mineralising event has been observed within the host rocks, and includes sericitisation, silicification and carbonisation.
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below 180m and there is a potential for ore at greater depth. Additional prospects and mineral occurrences over a 60 km along strike, at Darrah-i-Nil, Khesh, Zerak, Kharkiza, SurkhiParsa, further increase the potential of the area. A feasibility study for the exploitation of the
Hajigak deposit was undertaken in 1972 by a Franco-German group, Nenot-Pic. This proposed the construction of a blast furnace, based on the occurrence nearby of coking coal, providing an opportunity for the creation of an integrated iron and steel plant.
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accretionary events started in the
Cretaceous, around 140 million years ago, and have continued until recent times. At some stage in the early Cretaceous there is evidence of a collision of one of these blocks, the Farad block, with the Eurasian plate, along the Herat fault zone. Shortly afterwards, the Helmand block collided with the Farad block. The rocks that host the Hajigak deposit are within the Herat fault zone, and it is likely they were originally part of the Farad and Helmand Blocks.
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regional geology was mapped at 1:50 000 while the
Hajigak deposit was mapped at 1:10 000. Focusing on the western area of the deposit, the study included detailed prospecting, trenching, ore sampling, four deep drillholes, a 200 m long horizontal adit and shafts into the fragmental ore. For two of the main ore bodies, I and II, horizontal plans and vertical crosssections were generated allowing the ore to be resource classified.
303:. The remaining 20% is oxidized and consists of three hematitic ore types. The deposit remained unmined in 2006. The presence of coking coal nearby at Shabashak in the Dar-l-Suf District and large iron ore resources made the deposit viable for future development of an Afghan steel industry. Open pit mining and blast furnace smelting operations were envisioned by an early feasibility study. The Hajigak also includes the unusual
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The deposit itself stretches over 32 km and contains 16 separate zones, up to 5 km in length, 380 m wide and extending 550 m down dip, seven of which have been studied in detail. The ore occurs in both primary and oxidized states. The primary ore accounts for 80% of the deposit and consists
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Iron occurrences were observed during initial geological mapping of the area in the mid thirties but the economical potential was not fully recognised until a joint Afghan-Soviet project, between 1963 and 1965, carried out an extensive study which mapped and described the deposit in some detail. The
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The remote and mountainous location of
Hajigak makes it a challenging project for future development. However, the large tonnage and high iron content make it attractive to companies with the proven ability to plan and develop large world-class mines in demanding areas. The deposit remains untested
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The oldest part of the succession crops out north-west of the
Hajigak deposits. It consists of grey silicified limestones and dolomites interbedded with dark grey crystalline schists and light coloured quartzites that display evidence of amphibolite grade metamorphism. The Hajigak iron deposit is
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The Upper
Proterozoic rocks of the Qala Series are interpreted as being deposited in a slowly subsiding marine basin. The initial basin fill was a variable sequence of sandstones and minor volcaniclastic sediments. Later there was an increase in volcanic activity and exhalative iron-rich fluids
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The predominant strike of the
Proterozoic and Palaeozoic rocks is between north-east and north-north-east, with a regional dip of approximately 50° towards the south-southeast or south-east. One major steeply dipping fault juxtaposes the Upper Proterozoic rocks against the crystalline middle
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Afghanistan has a complex geology due to its position on the junction between the Indo-Pakistan and Asian crustal plates. It is composed of a series of terranes that broke away from the main Gondwana super-continent before becoming accreted onto the southern margin of the Eurasian plate. The
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Proterozoic rocks. Another throws Upper Devonian rocks against the Upper Proterozoic Green Schist Formation. In addition a suite of northâsouth and north-westâsouth-east trending faults, some of them probably thrusts, affect the Upper Proterozoic succession, including the iron ore deposits.
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The Hajigak deposit trends north-eastâsouth-west for about 9 km and is made up of 16 separate ore bodies, each up to 3 km in length. The deposit can be divided up into three geographical parts, the western, central and eastern parts. In addition to the large ore bodies there is a
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Germans were the first to plan to exploit this deposit systematically after planning a steel mill during or shortly after World War I. In the 1960s Russians prepared a comprehensive report on the mineral resources of Afghanistan, however also failed to exploit the deposits.
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When in the 1960s the Kala Bagh steel mill was planned in Pakistan, it was expected that it could partly use Hajigak iron ore. This is because the Pakistani mines where not of good quality at the time. However, this scheme failed.
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railway: 900 km long Indian-Iranian project, would link future US$ 10 billion Indian iron-ore mining operations at Hajigak, in Afghanistan to
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In November 2011, the Afghan government has awarded four out of the five blocks at Hajigak to a consortium of seven Indian firms led by the
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In May 2016, India, Iran and Afghanistan signed an agreement to develop two berths at
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Indian and Pakistani embassy and consulates in Afghanistan in red
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Estimated resource of two billion tonnes at approximately 62% Fe.
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Sixteen ore bodies extending for up to 3 km and 100m thick.
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683:"Potential for a Mining Boom Splits Factions in Afghanistan"
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provinces. It has the biggest untapped iron ore deposits of
752:"Fears mount for future of India's Afghan silk route plans"
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Coal resource nearby suitable for blast furnace/smelting.
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India-Iran sign key agreements, Published: 23 May 2016
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is the best known and largest iron oxide deposit in
46:. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
728:Central Asia: Geopolitics, Security and Stability
402:(SAIL) and one block to Canada's Kilo Goldmines.
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607:TurkmenistanâAfghanistanâPakistanâIndia Pipeline
118:Place in Maidan Wardak and Bamyan, Afghanistan
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106:Learn how and when to remove this message
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406:Indian Government's Hajigak Mining Plan
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44:adding citations to reliable sources
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681:Graham Bowley (September 9, 2012).
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377:A world-class iron ore deposit.
31:needs additional citations for
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657:Rail transport in Turkmenistan
632:North-South Transport Corridor
565:NorthâSouth Transport Corridor
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622:Rail transport in Afghanistan
253:12,139 ft (3,700 m)
731:, Routledge, pp. 142â,
662:Rail transport in Uzbekistan
652:Rail transport in Tajikistan
637:Rail transport in Kazakhstan
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55:"Hajigak mining concession"
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1139:Ajar Valley Nature Reserve
372:Summary of Hajigak deposit
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1205:Hajigak mining concession
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1006:Hajigak mining concession
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386:Amenable to open pitting.
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612:Afghanistan rail network
561:Chabahar-Zahedan railway
400:Steel Authority of India
642:Rail transport in India
1251:Maidan Wardak Province
1001:Wardak (Pashtun tribe)
803:Maidan Wardak Province
725:Patnaik, Ajay (2016),
647:Rail transport in Oman
627:Rail transport in Iran
497:Farkhor Indian Airbase
1256:Mining in Afghanistan
996:Behsud (Hazara tribe)
569:Trans-Iranian Railway
547:class=notpageimage|
394:Award of concessions
40:improve this article
754:. 15 February 2015.
567:by linking it with
286:Summary of Deposits
266:, located near the
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687:The New York Times
602:Ashgabat agreement
324:Geology of Hajigak
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1200:Buddhas of Bamyan
1195:Bamyan University
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844:Hesa Awal Behsood
738:978-1-317-26640-2
617:Mining concession
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240:Hesa Awal Behsood
184:34.667°N 67.950°E
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96:December 2022
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29:This article
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1261:Ore deposits
1204:
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1005:
970:Tangi Valley
955:Hajigak Pass
919:Qawme Dehqan
909:Chaki Wardak
834:Chaki Wardak
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692:September 9,
690:. Retrieved
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301:chalcopyrite
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268:Hajigak Pass
260:Hajigak Mine
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156:Hajigak Mine
150:Hajigak Mine
125:Hajigak Mine
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38:Please help
33:verification
30:
1169:Shibar Pass
914:Kot-e Ashro
859:Maidan Shar
818:Maidan Shar
563:as part of
363:Development
354:Exploration
264:Afghanistan
212:Afghanistan
187: /
1240:Categories
1159:Koh-e Baba
839:Day Mirdad
669:References
511:Uzbekistan
299:and minor
66:newspapers
1220:Yakawlang
1185:Governors
1164:Shebartoo
1127:Landforms
1109:Yakawlang
1071:Districts
991:Governors
975:Unai Pass
943:Landforms
826:Districts
455:Jalalabad
293:magnetite
250:Elevation
235:Districts
219:Provinces
950:Gaw Kush
934:Zaiwalat
924:Saydabad
874:Saydabad
595:See also
573:Chabahar
1094:Sayghan
1084:Kahmard
1058:Capital
899:BaghdÄd
849:Jaghatu
813:Capital
585:Hajigak
581:Delaram
469:Kandhar
311:History
305:niobium
200:Country
175:67°57â˛E
172:34°40â˛N
80:scholar
1099:Shibar
1089:Panjab
1079:Bamyan
1063:Bamyan
929:Takana
904:Behsud
854:Jalrez
735:
577:Zaranj
539:Quetta
525:Zaranj
297:pyrite
276:Bamyan
244:Shibar
228:Bamyan
209:
82:
75:
68:
61:
53:
1225:Zuhak
1178:Other
1104:Waras
984:Other
869:Nirkh
441:Herat
427:Kabul
87:JSTOR
73:books
733:ISBN
706:USGS
694:2012
280:Asia
274:and
242:and
226:and
59:news
715:aol
291:of
42:by
1242::
1061::
816::
685:.
591:.
295:,
282:.
1040:e
1033:t
1026:v
795:e
788:t
781:v
696:.
583:-
579:-
575:-
109:)
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98:)
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84:¡
77:¡
70:¡
63:¡
36:.
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