Inventory of Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining (ASM) in Badahkshan: Points (2017 to 2018)

Afghanistan is endowed with a broad range of mineral resources. Currently, the majority of mining throughout the country is comprised of informal and undocumented artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) operations. The exact scope of excavation operations depends largely on the mineral commodity produced. In the case of gemstones, such as emeralds and rubies, small teams of miners use manual equipment such as pick-axes, shovels, and explosives to blast the host rock to access the minerals. Other mineral commodities like talc, coal, and chromite, as well as development minerals such as construction stone, sand, and gravel, are extracted using larger, semi-industrial methods. These operations are often well-organized, mechanized, and might employ over 100 workers at a site. Regardless of scale, these undocumented mining operations have an important economic and political impact that extends across regional and national boundaries. Efforts by Afghanistan's government to improve transactional capacity building through the formalization of ASM operations is complicated by their illicit, unregulated, and sometimes clandestine nature. However, with support and information provided by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), and other U.S. agencies, the Afghanistan Ministry of Mines and Petroleum (MoMP) and the Afghanistan Geological Survey (AGS) plan to develop policies by which existing ASM operations can be integrated into Afghanistan's mineral resource development plan. This project is part of a larger effort by the USAID and the USGS to aid Afghanistan's economic redevelopment through scientific and technical guidance regarding its mineral resources. This data release contributes to the ASM formalization process through the documentation and cataloging of currently active ASM operations in Afghanistan in various priority mineral development regions of the country. The datasets published here were developed through visual interpretation of mining features from the most recently available very high-resolution satellite imagery for specific areas of interest (AOIs). Each AOI was determined based on priority areas established by previous USGS studies (Peters and others, 2007; Peters and others, 2011), along with available published and non-published geological references and input from the Afghanistan government. This data release contains polygon- and point-based shapefiles for each area of interest (AOI). Polygon-based shapefiles contain 1 km2 gridcells, each of which indicates the presence (and number) of mine sites recorded within its extent. Point-based shapefiles are derived from the 1 km2 gridcells and indicate the center points of the gridcells. Each gridcell or point is attributed with a count of mine sites located within the respective 1 km2 boundary, commodities mined at those sites, a confidence level for interpretation accuracy, the district and province in which the feature resides, and the acquisition year of the imagery used for interpretation. This dataset covers only specific areas and commodities of interest and does not represent a comprehensive catalog of all mining activity in Afghanistan. References Peters, S.G., Ludington, S.D., Orris, G.J., Sutphin, D.M., Bliss, J.D., and Rytuba, J.J., eds., and the U.S. Geological Survey-Afghanistan Ministry of Mines Joint Mineral Resource Assessment Team, 2007, Preliminary Non-Fuel Mineral Resource Assessment of Afghanistan: USGS Open-File Report 2007-1214. https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2007/1214/ Peters, S.G., King, T.V.V., Mack, T.J., and Chornack, M.P., eds., and the U.S. Geological Survey Afghanistan Mineral Assessment Team, 2011, Summaries of important areas for mineral investment and production opportunities of nonfuel minerals in Afghanistan: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2011-1204, 1,810 p. plus appendixes on DVD. https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2011/1204/阿富汗拥有种类丰富的矿产资源。目前，该国绝大多数采矿活动均为非正规、无备案的手工与小规模采矿（artisanal and small-scale mining, ASM）作业。采掘作业的具体规模在很大程度上取决于所开采的矿产品种。以祖母绿、红宝石等宝石为例，小型采矿团队会使用镐、铁锹以及炸药等手动设备爆破围岩以获取矿物。而滑石、煤炭、铬铁矿等其他矿产品种，以及诸如建筑石材、砂、砾石等开发用矿物，则采用规模更大的半工业化方式开采。这类作业通常组织有序且具备机械化程度，单个作业点的用工规模可能超过100人。 无论规模大小，这些无备案的采矿活动都会产生重要的经济与政治影响，其波及范围跨越区域乃至国家边界。阿富汗政府试图通过推动ASM作业正规化来提升交易能力建设，但这类活动本身具有非法、无监管且有时兼具隐秘性的特性，使得该进程困难重重。不过，在美国国际开发署（U.S. Agency for International Development, USAID）、美国地质调查局（U.S. Geological Survey, USGS）以及其他美国机构提供的支持与信息协助下，阿富汗矿业和石油部（Ministry of Mines and Petroleum, MoMP）与阿富汗地质调查局（Afghanistan Geological Survey, AGS）计划制定相关政策，将现有ASM作业纳入阿富汗矿产资源开发规划。 本项目是USAID与USGS通过提供矿产资源相关科学技术指导，助力阿富汗经济重建的更大规模举措之一。此次数据发布旨在通过对阿富汗境内各重点矿产开发区域当前活跃的ASM作业进行记录与编目，为ASM正规化进程提供支撑。 本次发布的数据集，是通过对特定感兴趣区域（Area of Interest, AOI）的最新超高分辨率卫星影像中的采矿特征进行目视解译而生成的。每个AOI的划定依据包括USGS此前研究确定的优先区域（Peters等，2007；Peters等，2011）、已公开及未公开的地质参考资料，以及阿富汗政府提供的意见。 此次数据发布包含各感兴趣区域的面状与点状形状文件（shapefile）。其中，面状形状文件包含1平方公里的网格单元，每个网格单元均标注了其范围内记录的矿点位置（及数量）。点状形状文件由1平方公里网格单元生成，用于标识网格单元的中心点。每个网格单元或点位均附带多项属性信息：对应1平方公里范围内的矿点数量、这些矿点开采的矿产品种、解译精度的置信水平、矿点所在的区县与省份，以及用于解译的影像获取年份。 本数据集仅覆盖特定区域与关注的矿产品种，并非阿富汗境内所有采矿活动的完整编目。 参考文献：Peters, S.G., Ludington, S.D., Orris, G.J., Sutphin, D.M., Bliss, J.D., and Rytuba, J.J., eds., 以及美国地质调查局-阿富汗矿业部联合矿产资源评估团队，2007，阿富汗非燃料矿产资源初步评估：USGS公开文件报告2007-1214。https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2007/1214/ Peters, S.G., King, T.V.V., Mack, T.J., and Chornack, M.P., eds., 以及美国地质调查局阿富汗矿产评估团队，2011，阿富汗非燃料矿产投资与生产机会重要区域概要：美国地质调查局公开文件报告2011-1204，共1810页及附DVD附录。https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2011/1204/