Afghan mines ministry dismisses report claiming historic site threatened by mining company as baseless

The Mines and Petroleum Ministry of Afghanistan rebutted a media report which said a 5,000-year-old Afghan historic site was under threat due to the activity of a Chinese company as baseless.

The U.S publication Newsweek recently reported the site, known as Mes Aunak, which is filled with ancient Buddhist relics and sits atop a copper mine, was under threat due to the activity of the Chinese company MCC-JCL Aynak Minerals Company Ltd, or MJAM.

Newsweek said that a U.S. film maker made a documentary on the issue and gathered a petition with local people's signatures urging the site's preservation

Mohiudin Nuri, the spokesman of the Mines and Petroleum Ministry of Afghanistan, told Xinhua in an exclusive interview that the Afghan government has not received any kind of appeal from the local people.

He said the archeological sites in the area and the mine extraction would not interfere with one another, adding that should there be any problem, the government would see to solve it.

MJAM won the bid of Aynak copper mine in 2008, which situated in Logar Province, some 60 km south of Kabul. The project is seriously delayed as per the agreement signed by the Afghan government and MJAM.

It is already seven years on since the agreement was inked but no sign of extraction is in sight, Nuri said.

Nuri, however, believes that the agreement, signed by the administration of former president Hamid Karzai, is flawed and does not meet the present condition.

"The agreement on Aynak Cooper Mine has technical faults and therefore it is not applicable in Afghanistan under the circumstance without revision and amendment," the spokesman told Xinhua.

Also, according to the agreement, the company was bound to present its technical and economic feasibility report to the government on January 2010, but it has yet to do so.

The official, however, dismissed the reported annulling of the contract as baseless, saying the agreement is valid and efforts are underway to modify it.

"The agreement is valid and intact and the joint commission of Afghanistan government and MCC are going to solve the problems within a month or 45 days," Nuri told Xinhua.

He added that there is no security problem as the government has already assigned 1,700 police force to ensure security for the company at Aynak Cooper Mine. Endi