Panjshir’s Directorate of Mines and Petroleum said on 3 October that eight new emerald mines had been registered in Hissa Awal district and received legal mining licences. Officials placed the sites in areas known as Kamar-e Safed, Siah Helo, Golno, Nashrak Qalat, Takhta and Toub-e Habal.

Director Mawlavi Mohammad Qasim Amiri said 221 mines, including beryl, green garnet and emerald sites, had been registered in the first six months of the current year; the eight new registrations brought that tally to 229. The province has about 750 registered mines, around 300 of which are legally operating. The report gave no production-capacity estimate or investment timetable for the new sites.