Copper project threats Buddhist monastery in Afghanistan

A copper mine to be developed by China Metallurgical Group in Afghanistan is raising concerns in the country as archeologists say that a 2,600-year-old Buddhist monastery will be destroyed if the venture goes on. The Chinese state-owned group has scheduled investments of US$ 3.5 billion for the Mes Aynak copper mine, whose construction is slated to begin by the end of 2011.

This is the largest foreign investment in Afghanistan to date. The Afghan Mining Ministry estimates the deposit contains 5.5 million metric tonnes of copper and is expected to bring US$ 1.2 billion in annual revenues for the Afghan government. The plan unveiled by the Chinese for the area will simply eliminate the archeological site, which has upset Afghan and French archeologists.

A French archeological mission is working at the region since 1992 and has excavated an area more than 12 kilometers long at the site. The monastery complex has been dug out although many of its frescoes and statues remain in place, and curiously, the archeologists say there was a copper mine on the site from the second century BC until the sixth century AD.