Prepared under the auspices of the U.S. Agency for International Development

Assessing the Coal Resources of Afghanistan

Afghanistan has moderate to potentially abundant coal 

resources. Much of the coal is relatively deep or currently inaccessible, however, and the scale of development has been limited. 

Indigenous coal has been used in Afghanistan for small industry 

(notably in the manufacturing of cement and textiles, and in food 

processing), and as a primary source of household fuel in both raw 

and briquetted forms. Electrical generation from coal has occurred 

only on a temporary basis when coal was used as a substitute fuel 

for generation by natural gas. The main factors limiting the more 

widespread use of coal in the past appear to have been the rugged 

terrain of the country, the lack of a transportation network to deliver 

coal, and the absence of an industrial infrastructure to utilize the 

coal. In addition, the geology of Afghan coal is poorly understood, 

and much of the known coal occurs in structurally deformed areas 

where exploitation can be difficult. 

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is conducting a cooperative coal resource assessment of Afghanistan with the Afghan 

Ministry of Mines and Industries (MMI). The assessment is one 

component of a much larger program that the USGS is conducting 

in Afghanistan under the auspices of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). The various agencies of MMI 

involved in this cooperative effort include the Afghan Geological 

Survey (AGS), the North Coal Department (NCD), and the Coal 

Mines Section of the Mining Affairs Department. The objectives of 

the assessment are to determine the quality, quantity, and distribution of coal throughout Afghanistan, and to develop the indigenous 

capability for refining the assessment on a sustainable basis. The 

assessment will determine the stratigraphic and areal extent of coal 

in Afghanistan, and quantify the coal resource on a regional and 

national level. The coal will be classified for its characteristics as a 

fuel or other beneficial uses, as well as for the attributes that could 

affect the natural environment, either in situ or from utilization. 

Special attention will be paid to determining the prospects for shallower and less structurally deformed coals than to those that have 

been mined to date. The potential for the commercial recovery of 

methane from coal mines and coal beds will also be assessed.

Although the primary focus of the assessment will be to work 

with MMI to quantify and characterize the coal resources in place, 

the work will be conducted in close cooperation with other governmental and nongovernmental stakeholders to assure that the Afghan 

coal mining sector can be developed on a safe and sustainable basis 

that is environmentally sound and economically rational.

Coal in Afghanistan

Most of the coal currently being mined in Afghanistan occurs in 

Jurassic rocks of the central Afghan platform (fig. 1). Triassic coal 

has been reported in several places, but the extent of their development is unclear. Paleogene coal also occurs in Afghanistan, but it 

is generally restricted to the Katawaz Basin (fig. 1) and associated 

areas of eastern Afghanistan. The Mesozoic and Paleogene coal 

basins are separated by continental-scale faults that mark current 

Coal tipple, Dudkash Mine, Baghlan Province, 

north-central Afghanistan

and ancient tectonic plate boundaries. The Jurassic coals have a 

provenance and affinities to coals of similar age in Central Asia, 

and the Paleogene coals have affinities to coals of the same age 

in Pakistan and India. Although the thermal maturity (coal rank) 

of the younger Paleogene coals is apparently similar to that of the 

Jurassic coals, there is very little data on the overall quality, distribution, or past exploitation of the Paleogene coals in Afghanistan. 

Preliminary results of coal-bed analysis by the USGS indicates that 

the coals of Afghanistan have been regionally metamorphosed to 

the subbituminous to high-volatile bituminous range, but the rank 

may be locally elevated by deformation. The general coal quality of 

Afghan coals also appears to vary considerably, both stratigraphically and laterally.

 Current coal production in Afghanistan is estimated to be 

about 220,000 tons per year. This is about the same quantity as the 

prewar peak, reported in 1978, essentially all of which came from 

government mines. Today, however, only about 20 percent is from 

government mines, which are operated by the NCD, or associated agencies in Herat Province. The remainder of the production 

comes from small private artisanal mines, often without government sanction. NCD mines were mechanized in the prewar period, 

but are severely undercapitalized and lacking proper maintenance 

at present (fig. 2). The artisanal mines are primitive in nature, are 

dangerous for mine workers, and are potentially damaging to the 

coal resource and to the environment (fig. 3). In addition to the 

areas shown in figure 1, there are isolated occurrences of coal in 

other geographic areas and stratigraphic intervals in Afghanistan, 

but most of these appear to be of little or no commercial interest 

due to poor quality coal and limited extent.

U.S. Department of the Interior Fact Sheet 2005–3073 Printed on recycled paper U.S. Geological Survey June 2005
34°

60° 64° 68° 72° 76°

38°

200 0 200 400 Kilometers j

Katawaz Basin

Kabul

Areas of potential

Paleogene coal

Areas of potential

deep (1000–1400 m)

Mesozoic coal

Areas of potential

shallow (<1000 m)

Mesozoic coal

Ma or coal mine

Location of figures 2 and 3,

and of photograph on page 1

AFGHANISTAN

EXPLANATION

30°

Figure 1. Distribution of major coal-bearing rocks in Afghanistan. The 

depth and extent of the coal-bearing rocks shown in this figure are, for 

the most part, inferred from a very limited set of data for the existing 

mines and other reported occurrences. The distinction between shallow 

and deep coals is somewhat arbitrary and is drawn at the approximate 

top of the Mesozoic at the surface. The deeper coal areas are considered prospectively valuable for coal-bed methane (CBM). The shallower 

coal areas could have commercial potential for underground mining, 

The Assessment Approach

The Afghanistan coal assessment will be comprehensive in nature, 

but will be executed in phases that are appropriate to the overall 

relief and reconstruction effort. Very little is known about the 

character of the Afghan coal resource, and much of the existing 

data is not readily available to potential users. The first phase of 

the assessment will concentrate on gathering and archiving existing 

data. Many of these data reside with various MMI agencies and 

may exist only as a single paper copy. These data are currently 

being catalogued and digitally archived—along with similar data 

for other commodities—in a joint effort with the British Geological 

Survey (BGS). The data will be incorporated in a comprehensive 

geographic information system (GIS) that will form the basis of the 

coal resource assessment. The GIS will include new cartography 

and geologic mapping on a regional scale that will be completed as 

CBM, and to a limited extent, surface mining. The major mines shown 

on the map are generalized locations of government mines that have 

operated in the past. Some of these are operational today, either by 

the government or by unsanctioned operators reworking the deposit. 

The Paleogene coal-bearing rocks shown on this figure are generally 

quite deformed, but have been mined for local use and could have CBM 

potential. The coal-bearing rocks shown here also may be source rocks 

for conventional petroleum accumulations. 

part of the geospatial infrastructure development component of the 

USGS program in Afghanistan.

Reconnaissance investigations of the known coal-bearing areas 

and sampling of the existing mines has begun and will continue 

as the data inventory and GIS construction takes place. The initial 

approach is to characterize the quality of the coal and to determine 

the geologic setting of the existing mines; we will then extrapolate these data to areas of uncertain but favorable coal potential. 

Individual coal fields will be mapped in detail in conjunction with 

the regional mapping done for the geospatial project, and targets 

for exploration by drilling and other means will be identified. 

Because existing data is scarce to nonexistent, and access to field 

areas may be difficult, techniques that are not normally used for 

coal assessments (such as using remote sensing to identify potentially oxidized organic rocks at the surface) will be investigated. 

The USGS will supervise drilling operations once security issues 
Figure 2. Karkar Mine, Baghlan Province. This North Coal Department 

mine, owned and operated by the Afghan government, is currently 

operating far below prewar (1978) capacity. The mine ventilation system 

is no longer fully functional, electric railcars have been replaced by 

winches, and expensive imported timbers are being used for roof support in place of local materials, which are no longer available.

are resolved and drilling capabilities are developed. As data are 

acquired, assessment parameters, such as coal tonnages and grade, 

will be quantified using USGS and other internationally recognized 

methodologies and standards. 

Institutional Development

As part of its multi-component program in Afghanistan, the 

USGS will engage in the institutional development of the various 

components of the MMI and its associated agencies, including the 

coal departments. The focus of this effort will be hands-on training of Afghan geologists and engineers in the techniques of coal 

resource assessment in the field and office (fig. 4). Physical facilities, including basic analytical and exploration capabilities for coal, 

will be installed or upgraded in conjunction with the overall effort 

of capacity building within MMI and related agencies. The USGS 

also will provide expert assistance to the U.S. mission in Afghanistan and to the Afghan government in their efforts to develop the 

Afghan coal sector on an orderly and sustainable basis.

For more information on the USGS coal program in Afghanistan, 

contact:

John SanFilipo

U.S. Geological Survey

956 National Center

Reston VA 20192

703-648-6436

jsan@usgs.gov

Figure 3. Small artisanal mine in the Ahandara area of Baghlan Province. These small “dog holes” are hand driven. They typically have 

no roof support, which often results in fatal accidents. The coal is 

subjected to widespread oxidation that can damage adjacent unmined 

resources. These small mines are difficult to manage in terms of government royalty accounting and environmental effects (note spoil pile). 

Adits are estimated to be slightly less than 2 m high.

Figure 4. Geologists and mining engineers from the Afghan Geological 

Survey (AGS) and the Coal Mines Section of the Ministry of Mining and 

Industries receive training in basic computer skills and coal-chemistry 

database management at AGS headquarters in Kabul, December 2004.

The USGS Afghanistan Project

This report is USGS Afghanistan Project Product No. 002

This study was funded by Interagency Agreement 306-P00-04-00566-00 between the U.S. Agency for International 

Development and the U.S. Geological Survey.