Afghanistan Gemstone

8/12/2019 Afghanistan Gemstone

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HERAT

BADGHIS

FARYAB

JAWZJAN

BALKH

BAGHLAN

KUNAR

NANGARHAR

LAGHMAN

KAPISTA

BAMYAN

URUZGAN

GHOR

FARAH

NIMROZ HELMAND KANDAHAR

ZABUL

GHAZNI

WARDAK

KABUL

LOGAR

PAKTIKA

PAKTIA

KHOST

PARWAN

TAKHAR

NURISTAN

BADAKHSHAN

KUNDUZ

SARIPUL

SAMANGAN

IRAN

TAJIKISTANUZBEKISTAN

TURKMENISTAN

KabulHerat

Kandahar

PAKISTAN

Helmand Province: Helmand Brown Onyx, Helmand Green Onyx

Nangarhar Province: Afghan White

Samangan Province: Samangan marble, Samangan Brown

Wardak Province: Wardak Grey, Wardak White, Maydan marble

Bamyan Province: Yakawlang Onyx

Parwan Province: Kaftar Khana, Qalatak, Salang marble

Khost Province: Zurmat marble

Kabul Province: Karizmeer marble, Ghazak marble, Qalamkar marble, Kabul Grey, Pul-e-charkhy, Hazare Baghal

Logar Province: Awbazak marble, Mohammad Agha, Dehnow marble

Herat Province: Chesht marble

Faryab Province: Almar White Onyx, Almar Green Onyx

Badakhshan Province: Bini-Kama marble

Minerals inAfghanistan

There are at least 21 factories producing marble in Afghanistan,but the total output is not known. The marble is exported asrough hewn blocks to Pakistan where it is processed and thentransported back to Afghanistan. This imported marbledominates the market as local producers are unable to competewith the low prices and high quality. The Afghanistan marbleindustry suffers from a lack of adequate equipment, has little

technical knowledge, and uses poor extraction methods thatoften significantly reduce the value of the marble. Extraction is byblasting using black powder, typically imported from Pakistan.This causes micro-fracturing throughout the entire quarry andresults in up to 50% of wastage at the quarrying stage. Furtherwastage occurs at the marble factory where blocks often break upduring the cutting and polishing stages of production.

Marbles of Afghanistan

Figure 1. Map of Afghanistan showingprovinces that are known to be producingmarble.


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The result is a relatively poor quality polished marble with acomparatively high unit cost of production.

There is a wide variety of marble in Afghanistan currentlyextracted from quarries in Badakhshan, Balkh, Bamyan,Helmand, Herat, Kabul, Kandahar, Logar, Faryab, Wardak,Nangarhar, Paktia, Parwan and Samangan provinces. Marbles

developed in rocks of Proterozoic age are considered to be thehighest quality for use as dimension stone. Marble depositsinclude the following:

Kabul Province. Proterozoic marble is quarried in Ghazak,Hazare Baghal, Kariz-Amir, Pul-e-Charkhy, Qalamkar, andTara Kheel. The Proterozoic Kariz-Amir marble occursapproximately 40 km north of Kabul and consists ofgranular white, rarely grey-yellow marble. The Ghazakmarble (known as Ghazak Black) is a popular fine-grained, black marble that occurs 32 km east of Kabul.

Logar Province. Proterozoic marble is quarried in

Awbazak, Dehnow and Mohammad Agha. Awbazakmarble is bioclastic and brown in colour; Dehnow marbleis brecciated and brown in colour; Mohammad Aghamarble is black and white in colour.

Wardak Province. The Proterozoic Maydan marble occursnear Maydan Shar and consists of grey and dark greymarble beds up to 450 m thick, interbedded with schist.The Maydan Marble Mines are well known, with five

working areas in a 1012 km outcrop that has beenworked for 40 years.

Badakhshan Province. The Silurian-Devonian Bini-Kamamarble consists of medium and coarsely crystalline marble;the resource is estimated as 1300 million tonnes.

Herat Province. The Proterozoic Chesht-i-Sharif marble

occurs 120 km east of Herat city and consists of a finelycrystalline marble ranging in colour from pure white to asubtle light green.

Nangarhar Province. The Proterozoic Khogiani marbleoccurs 35 km south-west of Jalalabad and consists of awhite marble known as Afghan White.

Onyx marble. Onyx is a banded variety of chalcedony, acryptocrystalline form of quartz. Onyx is highly valued as a highquality marble and the colour of its bands range from white toalmost every other colour. Afghan onyx is quarried from severalprovinces including Bamyan, Helmand and Faryab, with

colours including shades of yellow, green or brown. Some ofthese may in fact be a variety of aragonite (calcium carbonate)called travertine, however the traditional name of onyx hasremained in place and is still used to this day.

The Chesht and Khogiani marbles are currently worked fordimension stone and have been favourably compared toCarrara marble, an Italian marble recognised to be one of thefinest in the world.

Ornamental marble working in Kabul.


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Karizmeer marble, Kabul.

Kabul Grey, Kabul.

Ghazak Marble, Kabul.

Qalamkar marble, Kabul.

Ghazak Black, Kabul.

Pul-e-charkhy, Kabul.


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Zurmat marble, Khost.

Hazare Baghal, Kabul.

Dehnow marble, Logar.

Chesht-i-Sharif marble, Herat.

Mohammad Agha, Logar.

Awbazak marble, Logar.


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Wardak Grey, Wardak.

Wardak White, Wardak.

Samangan Brown, Samangan.

Wardak White, Wardak.

Wardak Grey, Wardak.

Samangan marble, Samangan.


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Samangan marble, Samangan.

Salang marble, Parwan.

Helmand Brown and White Onyx, Helmand.

Kaftar Khana, Parwan.

Qalatak marble, Parwan (Panjshir).

Helmand Brown and White Onyx, Helmand.


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Helmand Brown Onyx, Helmand.

Yakawlang Onyx, Bamyan.

Almar White Onyx, Faryab.

Helmand Green Onyx, Helmand.

Khogiani marble (Afghan White), Nangarhar.

Almar Green Onyx, Faryab.


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Contact details

For further information please contact:

Secretariat for the Ministry of Mines,Kabul,AfghanistanTel: +93 (0) 70 269 772/70 085 364e-mail: [email protected] or [email protected]

Afghanistan Project Manager, British Geological Survey,Kingsley Dunham Centre, Keyworth, Nottingham

NG12 5GG United KingdomTel: +44 (0) 115 936 3100e-mail: [email protected]

or

BGS Project Leader, BGS KabulTel: +93 (0) 799 136 140 e-mail: [email protected]

Afghanistan Geological Survey

Finished marble products at a factory shop in Kabul.

Afghanistan Gemstone

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