The Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, through the Ministry of Mines of Afghanistan, after the decision by the Inter Ministerial Commission announced that on December 10 2012, the preferred bidder was selected to undertake the exploration and subsequent exploitation of Zarkashan, the final of the four current mineral tenders.
The selection of the preferred bidder for Zarkashan follows the announcement on December 6th 2012 of the preferred bidders for Badakhshan, Balkhab and Shaida mineral tenders. It is subsequent to an extensive process since launch in December 2011, which has been supported by transaction advisers and transparency advisers to the Ministry.
Summary of preferred bidder for Zarkashan:
Project – Zarkashan
Preferred Bidder - Sterling Mining/Belhasa International Co LLC
Province - Ghazni
Mineral type - Copper-gold
Deposit type - Skarn
Exploration Licence Area(s) - 2 x 242km2
Commenting on today's announcement, Mr Wahidullah Shahrani minister of mines said that "We are very pleased to announce that following a competitive tender process, we have chosen Sterling/Belhasa as the preferred bidder to explore and begin to develop the Zarkashan project. We welcome Sterling/Belhasa to the resources sector of Afghanistan and look forward to finalising the mining agreement with them. They will then deliver their work programme at Zarkashan and use the experience they have gained in other regions to make meaningful contributions to the development of our resources sector. We expect this in turn will help create long term prosperity for the people of Afghanistan."
The tender process for each Project is expected to culminate in the granting of an exploration licence and, subject to the satisfaction of certain conditions, will lead to the granting of the requisite exploitation licence. Canaccord Genuity, SRK Consulting and Mayer Brown are acting as transaction advisers. The Marx Group is acting as transparency advisers. The tenders were designed as transparent, standards-based, competitive bidding processes to result in the selection of the best qualified bidder for each Project.