Afghanistan Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining (ASM) Areas (ver. 3.0, June 2021)

This data release catalogs currently active ASM operations in Afghanistan in various parts of the country. The dataset was developed through visual interpretation of mining features from the most recently available very high-resolution satellite imagery. The polygon-based shapefiles contains 1 square kilometer gridcells, each of which indicates the presence (and number) of mine sites recorded within its extent.
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, 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 catalogue of all mining activity in Afghanistan.