Reuters, September 15, 2013

At least 27 dead in Afghanistan coal-mine collapse

Accident raises concerns in sector many Afghans hope can underpin the country's economic development

At least 27 miners in Afghanistan were killed in a coal-mine collapse, officials said Sunday, in an accident likely to reinforce worries about a sector that many Afghans hope can underpin the country's development.

The collapse occurred on Saturday evening in the northern province of Samangan, said provincial governor's spokesman Sediq Azizi.

Afghan miners work inside a coal mine in Samangan province on April 3, 2012. (Photo: Qais Usyan/AFP/Getty Images)

"Rescue teams have recovered 27 dead miners and there are 22 more wounded," Azizi said. District police chief Akram Behzad said all trapped miners had been rescued.

Afghanistan is estimated to be sitting on as much as $1 trillion in untapped mineral resources, but decades of war and instability have kept most investors away.

The government says it expects to make as much as $4 billion per year in mining revenues in the decade from 2014, when most Western forces are due to leave, compared with less than $150 million from its resources sector last year.

The Pentagon said in a in 2010 briefing paper that Afghanistan's main resources were iron ore, with an estimated value of nearly $421 billion, and copper deposits valued at $273 billion.

But insecurity has hampered investment. Last year, work was halted at China Metallurgical Group's $3 billion Aynak copper mine in the eastern province of Logar following attacks.

Safety standards are also often lax in Afghanistan, with some mines employing children as young as 10 despite government regulations forbidding child labor, the government has said.

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