While the sum seems rather high, The Frontier Post reports on a purported $10B offer by a Chinese firm for Afghanistan’s lithium deposits:

The Afghanistan Ministry of Mines and Petroleum said on Thursday that a Chinese Company, Gochin expressed its interest in investing $10 billion in Afghanistan’s lithium deposits.

According to the statement, the acting minister for mine and Petroleum, Shahabuddin Delawar, met with the Chinses company representatives in Kabul.

The statement said the investment would create 120,000 direct and a million indirect jobs in the country.

Meanwhile, the statement added that the company would repair the Salang Pass within seven months and carve another tunnel.

The company also stressed that the process of the lithium deposits will get done inside the country, and to process it, a hydroelectric dam will be built, and Kumar and Laghman Road will be asphalted.

In January, the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum signed the extraction contract of the Amu oil field with the Chinese company China Petroleum Economics and Information Research Center (CPEIC).

According to the contract, Afghanistan’s share is 20 per cent, which will reach 75 per cent in the future.

Since the Taliban takeover of the country, China has increased its influence via economic ties with the current regime.

According to several media reports, Chinese companies have long aspired to access Afghanistan’s extensive and rich lithium deposits, estimated to be worth more than $1 trillion, Bloomberg said.