QUETTA: A truck carrying 40 metric tonnes of blister copper extracted in the Saindak Copper-Gold Project was stolen last week in the coastal district of Lasbela, Pakistan Today learned on Thursday.
According to sources, the vehicle was part of a convoy of about 32 trucks, all carrying blister copper – mixture of Copper and Gold – from Saindak to Karachi under the heavy escort of Balochistan Frontier Corps and Pakistan Customs.
They said that the truck went missing somewhere in Lasbela, the last leg of the 1,400 kilometre-long journey from Saindak to the capital of Sindh. It was carrying 61 blocks of blister copper, each weighing 750 kilogramme and the price of these blocks was estimated as $350,000 in the international market.
“It was the third truck that has been stolen during the last three months, which has caused serious concern among the Chinese company MCC Resources Development Company that is mining copper-gold along with the government of Balochistan,” sources said.
“The fact that the trucks are being stolen under heavy escort of the Balochistan Frontier Corps and Pakistan Customs creates doubts about the loyalties of the two agencies,” a police official told Pakistan Today on condition of anonymity.
Blister copper has no market in Pakistan because of the lack of a refinery, and MCC Resources Development gets the metal refined or sells it in the international market.
