The objective of the Sustainable Development of Natural Resources Project is to assist the Ministry of Mines in improving its capacity to effectively regulate Afghanistan's minerals and hydrocarbon resources sector in a transparent manner and foster private development in this sector. The additional financing will help finance additional activities that will support attainment of the original development objective and increase project impact, and the increased field operating expenses associated with the establishment of a mining cadastre and field geological survey work which are in the original project scope. The key additional activities that have necessitated the request for additional funding are: (i) support to the Government of Afghanistan (GoA) to complete the Aynak copper deposit transaction; (ii) support to the GoA to undertake the Hajigak iron ore deposit transaction; (iii) the development of a program to provide relevant sector knowledge to other GOA agencies, particularly the Ministry of Finance, for sector taxation and revenue management related matters, and planning for structured training in geo-sciences and mining at an educational institution in Afghanistan; and (iv) provision of additional laboratory and field research equipment to the Afghanistan Geological Survey (AGS).