Firm alleges problems with major Afghan mining contract

An Afghan-American company that failed to win a multbutterfly wet grinder price list in chennaiibillion-dollar contract to develop one of Afghanistan’s most lucrative mines alleges that the bidding process was riddled with irregularities and that the winning bidders may not be able to meet production targets. The claims, which were backed by a former senior Afghan mining official, suggest that a potential key source of revenue for the Afghan government — which will be saddled with massive bills after U.S. forces withdraw from the country — could be in jeopardy.

The Afghan-American firm, Acatco, was one of about two dozen bidders that competed for the right to extract minerals from the Hajigak iron ore mine in Afghanistan’s central Bamiyan province. Industry experts have called Hajigak the jewel of Afghanistan’s mining sector, McClatchy Newspapers reported. Contracts for developing four sections of Hajigak were awarded in November — three to a consortium of Indian firms led by the state-owned Steel Authority of India, or SAIL, and one to Kilo Goldmines, a Canadian firm. But Acatco said that these companies had failed to demonstrate they had the funds to carry out the project. “This is against the spirit and the letter of the tender documents,” Acatco president Nasir Shansab wrote last month to Afghanistan’s minister of mines, Wahidullah Shahrani. He added that “those bids should have been disqualified.” Acatco last week asked Afghanistan’s parliamentary complaints commission to investigate the Hajigak contracts, citing illegality and possible corruption in the...