Pakistan has significant deposits of precious metal gold worth billions of dollars, besides other high-value mineral resources. There are two major gold mines located at Chaghai district in Balochistan. The Reko Diq Copper-Gold Deposit, known as one of the largest gold reserves globally, is said to have gold deposits in the range of 992 to 1,276 tonnes out of which 255 tonnes are proven whereas the remaining are inferred and indicated reserves. Saindak Copper-Gold Deposit has gold deposits of 83 tonnes with 63.5 tonnes proven reserves.
Pakistan has significant deposits of precious metal gold worth billions of dollars, besides other high-value mineral resources. There are two major gold mines located at Chaghai district in Balochistan. The Reko Diq Copper-Gold Deposit, known as one of the largest gold reserves globally, is said to have gold deposits in the range of 992 to 1,276 tonnes out of which 255 tonnes are proven whereas the remaining are inferred and indicated reserves. Saindak Copper-Gold Deposit has gold deposits of 83 tonnes with 63.5 tonnes proven reserves.
Unfortunately, these gold deposits are not being exploited effectively, and currently extraction of gold is minimal at an average one tonne gold annually, placing Pakistan nowhere among the seventy-one countries that extracted 3,293 tonnes gold in 2021. China is the largest gold producer with 420 tonnes of gold extracted this year, which accounts for about 12 percent of its total gold deposits.
Saindak Copper Gold Mining Project has been operated by Metallurgical Construction Corporation (MCC) of China since 2002. Gold is being produced on a regular basis, through smelting process, but at a low level, having extracted 1.592 tonnes of gold in 2009. Intriguingly, extraction or production of gold is neither recorded with the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) nor with any other government agency related to exports, like Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP). It is however understood that the provincial government is getting the royalties, dividends and other benefits from MCC as per agreement. In a latest move, the government has granted in February this year extension of mining lease to MCC for another 15 years.
Discovered during 1978-79, the Reko Diq Gold and Copper Deposits have not yet been developed though 200-kg gold was extracted during 4-months’trials in 1995. Tethyan Copper Company (TCC), a joint venture with Barrick Gold Corporation, Canada, was given the lease of phase-one of the Riqo Diq Gold and Copper Mining Project in 2006 but the project ran into snags from its early days, site operations suspended, and lease was cancelled in 2011.
Nonetheless, the foreign investors have agreed in March this year to revive the project and to commence development work in August. But no further progress has been achieved so far as the Supreme Court of Pakistan verdict is now required on whether the government could revive the project or not. The plant to process 40 million tonnes of copper-gold ore per annum is expected to be in operation within five to six years, i.e. by 2027-28 if the reconstituted deal goes through. Annual extraction of 7 tonnes of gold is planned initially.
Gold is also found in other areas of Pakistan though mineral data is not available. The Gold Exploration and Mineral Assessment Project, undertaken during 1992-1995 under the Australian Assistance, detected gold in Gilgit-Baltistan having identified 24 sites but it is not easily accessible. Hard rock samples of 11 prospect areas have confirmed gold up to 24 ppm (parts per million) concentration whereas 5 ppm gold is considered economically viable. Concentration of alluvial placer gold has been found in many tributaries of the Indus River. Alluvial gold is recovered at small scale from the Indus River along Gilgit, Chilas, and Besham to Attock.
For many decades gold particles are successfully collected during the winter season by various groups and families using a water panning method of sifting and cleaning gold from sand manually, which is their livelihood. It is estimated that local gold-washers recover about 15-kg gold annually from the region. This unorganized mining activity could be transformed by the government into small-scale organized mining by employing a mechanized gold recovery system. This system can process placer gold from 500-kg to 5,000-kg per day depending on other recovery factors. Neelum valley in the Azad Jammu & Kashmir is significant for gold exploration. Presence of gold has also been confirmed in the rivers and streams of Charsadda, Swabi, Nowshera, Karak and Kohat in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Throughout history gold has been of great value. Besides its national strategic importance and major use in jewelry and decorative articles, its industrial uses are in computers & electronics, mobile phones, radiation-shielding, aerospace, wiring, dentistry & medicine, and cosmetics etc. Sadly, Pakistan is lagging behind in this vital area in spite of huge gold deposits as a result of poor planning, corrupt practices and lack of political will. Thus, there is a need to operate the two high-grade gold mines located in Balochistan effectively and optimally, and to prioritize exploration, evaluation, and exploitation of potential gold resources across the country at a large scale.
– The writer is retired chairman of the State Engineering Corporation
