Afghan mine stalled by Chinese demands, rebels

Mes Aynak, Afghanistan

CHINA and Afghanistan remain deadlocked over a stalled US$3 billion copper mine five months after Beijing demanded royalties be slashed by almost half, underlining Kabul's struggles to support itself as foreign aid dries up.

The copper, lying beneath the ruins of an ancient Buddhist city, is one of the world's largest untapped deposits. But the project at Mes Aynak has been mired in delays since state-run China Metallurgical Group Corp (MCC) won the contract to develop it in 2007.