• commerce About a decade ago, the U.S.’s largest copper mine was discovered in Arizona – 7,000 feet deep and with enough copper to cover a fifth of the nation’s supply. It could also create thousands of jobs, and politicians have been helping make it happen.
• nature Unfortunately for the mining companies and politicians, the area includes Oak Flat Campground, popular with both campers and rock-climbers (and federally protected from things like this). As a result, the move is very unpopular with Arizona residents.  source

• It’s this shepherd’s lucky day. He’s standing on so much lithium that he could power your laptop’s battery for decades to come. He doesn’t have to herd livestock in the worst place in the world anymore. There are $1 tRILLION dollars worth of precious metals to mine for. This is big. It could change the entire war and might even be enough to defang the Taliban, if it’s handled correctly. And it could make the value of Glenn Beck’s gold tip downward. (Thank God.) Some more details on the amazing find:

• $1
  trillion the amount of money the country is currently standing on
• $12
  billion the size of Afghanistan’s gross domestic product last year

Some obvious questions

• What’s down there? Lots of stuff, including iron, copper, cobalt, gold and lithium. An internal memo says Afghanistan could be the “Saudi Arabia of lithium.” Wow, nice metaphor.
• how long will it take? It might take a few years to put together the things needed to help Afghanistan take advantage of their vast resources. And the U.S. is already there.
• Current economic driver? Opium. Lots and lots of opium. Part of the reason terrorism is so strong in the region is because so much money comes from the opium trade and narcotics trafficking.

Did Afghanistan mine before?

• This is a country that has no mining culture. They’ve had some small artisanal mines, but now there could be some very, very large mines that will require more than just a gold pan.
• United States Geological Survey geologist Jack Medlin • On the sheer lack of mining history n the country. So why wasn’t this discovered before? Well, there were hints of it in prior Soviet-era documents, but for whatever reason, the potential was overlooked. No longer. The U.S. has spent too freaking long in this country not to start mining it for what it’s worth. It’s estimated that it’s going to take decades to reach their full potential of mining. This’ll be fun to watch. It’ll make their opium crops seem like a waste of time. source

• one Chile, the world’s 46th-richest country,
  has a much stronger economy than Haiti, the Western Hemisphere’s poorest nation.
• two The country has one of the lowest debt to economic output ratios in Latin America, and the government is fairly frugal with spending.
• three Chile has a massive copper supply, a supply which was barely damaged by the earthquake. They’ll bounce back, guys. source