Kunar’s Department of Mines and Petroleum has reported the sale of 566.39 kilograms of precious and semi-precious stones, valued at 70 million Afghanis, in an open auction.
Mawlawi Shirin Agha, head of the department, told Bakhtar News Agency that the entire lot was sold to a single company, with 10 percent of the proceeds—per mining law—deposited into the state treasury.
He noted that, in the past, extraction of such stones was often illegal and unregulated. Since the Islamic Emirate took power, mining operations have been formalized, and companies can now freely transport their stones for sale both domestically and internationally.
