Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz used Thursday’s Pakistan Minerals Investment Forum in Islamabad to promote mining investment, citing possible gold deposits in rivers as the province seeks to attract investors.
Nawaz said there was significant evidence of placer gold near Mianwali and Attock, and described the potential as extending across Punjab’s five rivers. She gave no estimate of the quantity or commercial value. Placer gold is loose gold particles in riverbed sediment, rather than metal embedded in rock; it can accumulate as water carries material downstream after erosion.
She said the provincial mines and minerals department had raised revenue to about 40 billion rupees from 10 billion rupees over the past 2.5 years. Nawaz also cited an estimated 261.5 million tonnes of iron ore at Chiniot.
Nawaz said officials were working to cut administrative delays and simplify approvals. The province was introducing a single-window service for investors, she said, alongside concessional financing of up to 5 billion rupees. She also outlined government-backed capital investment to reduce land acquisition costs and solar energy options intended to ease electricity and fuel expenses.
Pakistan Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar urged the country to build domestic capacity to process, refine and manufacture mineral products, saying those industries could create jobs and increase export earnings compared with shipping raw materials abroad. Alongside copper and gold in Balochistan’s Tethyan mineral belt, Dar named chromite, coal, rock salt, iron ore, marble and gemstones among Pakistan’s other resources. Dar pointed to Reko Diq as an example of how international investment and provincial participation could support lasting economic benefits from mining.
Dar said provincial governments should retain their constitutional authority over mineral resources and local communities should receive jobs, training and other economic opportunities. He also identified environmental protection, worker safety and rehabilitation of mine sites as priorities.
