Copper Mine in Afghanistan

Underneath some historical ruins in Afghanistan lies a vast copper mine. It is miners vs archaeologists at the moment debating whether the copper should be mined at the cost of the ruins. I understand that Afghanistan is very poor and needs the money, but they should not have to find fortune at the expense of their cultural heritage, especially to sell copper to the developed world that totally over uses resources as it is. I know we have a global shortage of copper, but there are other ways to get copper (bioleaching, phytomining, recycling etc.) or they could just start using an alternative metal or better yet stop making so much unnecessary stuff!!! This is a sad sad story.