ISLAMABAD – The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources is working on several fronts to effectively explore the country’s rich mineral deposits for prosperity and development of the country. Similarly among other projects, the Reko Diq project has tremendous potential to contribute in the uplift of Balochistan’s economy in specific and the national economy in general, according to Tethyan Copper Company(TCC) Pakistan, an official said. The TCC, in partnership with the Government of Balochistan, is evaluating the development of a world-class copper-gold mine at Reko Diq. The reports say the district of Chagai, where the project was being developed is one of the most backward and least-developed areas of Pakistan with very low human development indicators.
A project like Reko Diq can really boost the economy and socially uplift the local populace by employing and training local people, promoting local procurement, community investment programs, and revenue generation for the provincial government through profits, taxes and royalties and transferring technology.
According to different studies, the mineral resource at Reko Diq is estimated at 5.9 billion tonnes. From this resource, an estimated 2.2 billion tonnes of economically mineable ore, with an average copper grade of 0.5 percent and an average gold grade of 0.3 gms/tonne will be processed to produce 2.2 billion pounds of copper (10 million tons) and 13 million ounces of gold in form of payable metal in about 56 years of mine life. Moreover the country’s coal potential had been estimated at 185 billion tonnes with current consumption of 7.5 million tonnes per annum against annual production of 4.5 million tonnes.
Thus supply and demand gap of about 3.0 million tons of coal was being met through imported coal, he added. As new primary energy resource for the country, Thar could provide energy security, import substitution, economic development in rural areas and technology transfer for large scale mining with major skills creation. According to reports Thar coal development challenges included complex geology-dunes sand and silt stone cover, high moisture content besides absence of local expertise to develop large open cast mine.
