Pakistani green onyx migrates to China

Muhammad Irshad Ali, a Karachi-based trader and distributor of marble, made a fortune during the decades of 1970s, 80s and 90s from exporting green onyx mined in Balochistan. Today, Ali and many others like him are feeling the pinch of green onyx gradually disappearing from the local market. “China is now importing almost all of the green onyx being mined in Balochistan, and we are left to feed on the scraps they reject,” Ali told Profit.
Green onyx is a gemstone found in the areas of Dalbandin and Noukundi, along the Pak-Afghan and Pak-Iran borders in Balochistan. “In 1960, I think, green onyx was discovered by Mir Qadir Bux Zehri when he spotted some different coloured stones on Bootak Mountain. Ever since, four kinds of green onyxes have been discovered; light green, medium green, multi-green and dark green. There are numerous green onyx mines in Balochistan, but the most famous ones are the Bootak, Zardkaan, Jhully, Zay, Pashtook and Maskeetha mines,” Ali said.
In terms of chemical composition and property, the stone is another form of silicon dioxide and is rather malleable; because it is soft in its shape and form, it can be moulded into different commodities, articles and handicrafts. For over four decades, Ali and his colleagues profited from distributing, and later exporting, green onyx. But now, the Chinese are profiting from the same malleable product, crafting sheets of one to two millimetres of green onyx and turning them into tiles for export.
Lucre through the ages
Mining of green onyx began in 1962-63, and it was ultimately introduced into the market by 1965. At that time, green onyx in its raw, stone form cost around Rs500-600 per tonne; this was transported to the markets in Karachi and Lahore via rail at a fare of Rs80-100 per tonne.
By 1968, green onyx had made it to the international market, fetching a more lucrative $150 per tonne – even though one US dollar was worth about Rs 10. With the potential for greater profits quite obvious, two local entrepreneurs in 1970 decided to jointly promote green onyx in the international market. Owner of Habibullah & Sons Asmatullah Khan Paracha and Owner of Green Marble Works Malik Mustafa Khan popularised green onyx by crafting tiles and different handicrafts out of raw stone, and selling them abroad.
Back then, these two men held a monopoly of sorts over the export of green onyx. For the others, there was a thriving local market for green onyx and many interested local customers. “I have the honour of being the pioneer of bringing onyx to Karachi by road,” Ali said. “Back in 1973, we transported green onyx on a six-wheeler Bedford truck from the Zardkaan mine in Dalbandin to Karachi.
Others followed suit soon after, and truck owners began to charge us Rs250 per tonne.”
Those who were aware of green onyx’s lucre started selling in the international market. “Italians were the first to be attracted by green onyx; they were our first genuine and consistent buyers back in the 1980s. The Americans were next, importing millions of tonnes.
But without a doubt, Italians imported more green onyx from Pakistan in its raw form.
“With green onyx now becoming a well-known product in the international markets, everyone connected with the trade began reaping handsome profits; its price soared to $300-400 per tonne internationally. When truck drivers found out about these prices, they began to charge us Rs800-900 per tonne for transporting onyx from the mines to the local markets. Due to the huge exports and the prosperity that green onyx was bringing, many people entered the trade,” Ali said.
Dependants of the mines
With both exports and local trade booming, especially in the decade of the 1980s, most mines developed a life of their own, till such time that mines were not exhausted, tribal chieftains who owned them constructed little colonies around them, providing employment to members of their own clan.
One such colony is situated in Jhully, an area where onyx mines are aplenty. Located at a drive of about an-hour-and-forty-five minutes from Azaad Station, Nokundi, Jhully is isolated from other settlements. But as with other such colonies, Jhully has a fully functioning market, a school and even some sort of traditional medical facility. While families are often settled in these colonies, labour is typically not bonded but hired at a monthly salary.
The only transportation to Jhully is through 4×4 jeeps, as there is no “pakka” road leading up to the colony and one has to drive through the desert to reach the mines.
Onyx loaded on trucks takes around eight hours to reach Azaad Station in Nokundi, from where these trucks begin their onward journey to Karachi.
A typical workday at the mines begins early in the morning. There are separate teams at every mine for different tasks, each constituting of 5-6 people. The team is usually headed by a “mistri,” a man who is the most senior among his peers, Ali told Profit.
“A mistri is someone who is considered to be an expert at a particular task; his monthly salary nowadays is between Rs12,000 and Rs15,000. The labourers that the mistri leads usually earn about Rs6,000 every month,” Ali said.
Imdad Jan, a driver who has been plying on the same route for last 20 years, told Profit that there are three dangerous stages in the journey between the onyx mines and Karachi markets. The first is a deserted area from the mines to the “pakka” road to Azaad Station, Nokundi. The second comes while crossing the high mountains of Nooshki, and the third is while crossing the mountain range of Galang-Goor.
“When we start our journey from the mines, we fill our truck’s fuel tanks with Iranian diesel, which costs less as compared to Pakistani diesel. We specially make fuel tanks on both sides of the truck, where we can easily store more than 1,500 litres of diesel,” Jan explained.
But throughout the five-day journey from the mines to Karachi, police and other local forces extort money from the drivers. “On every trip, we pay Rs200 to Nooshki police, another Rs200 to Galang-Goor police, Rs300 rupees to Quetta police, Rs200 to Khuzdar police and Rs300 to Hab Chowki police,” he said.
Green is gold
Slowly but surely, trading in green onyx became a sector in itself: pricing had its own mechanism, wage structures became formalised, and export demand also grew. By the 1990s, huge stockyards were constructed in Karachi in the Manghopir and Raiti Pahar areas. At the time, green onyx was sold at $400-550 in the international market, while ten-wheeler trucks charged Rs1,000-Rs1,500 per tonne.
After four decades of unrelenting mining, however, green onyx had started becoming a rare commodity at the turn of the century. From the year 2000, the price of green onyx in its raw form went to its peak rate of $500-700 per tonne. With rail transport of cargo from Balochistan coming to a halt due to the security situation in the province, the only mode of transporting green onyx was by road, through ten-wheel trucks.
Because of this, the fares of carrying green onyx from the mines rose to between Rs2,000 and Rs2,800 for every tonne. The royalty paid on every tonne transported was just Rs30 per tonne in the decade of the 1960s; this has now risen to around Rs500 per tonne.
Costs had therefore multiplied, for all stakeholders. Those who used to buy raw green onyx, mould it into different forms and then export it, began to prefer simply exporting it. This practice gradually turned into a trend. Ever since the year 2000, most buyers and distributors abandoned all local manufacturing of products.
The local industry was dealt a hammer blow in 2010, when the Zehri family signed a three-year agreement with Chinese buyers. Following the agreement, the Zehris are now directly sending most raw green onyx to China, thereby making local exporters, especially Karachi-based ones, redundant.
“Green onyx is still being transported on ten-wheeler trucks to Karachi, but the only difference is that it is for the purpose of packing it in containers and sending it to China through cargo ships. The only stones present in the market are the ones that Chinese buyers have rejected,” Ali said.