Pakistan among major gold producer countries

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources Syed Naveed Qamar said that Pakistan had been included in the list of major gold producer countries after reported proven reserves of 1275.75 ton gold and unquantified silver in Reko Diq project and other areas including Gilgit-Baltistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhawa besides Saindak Project.

The Minister said this in the National Assembly on Tuesday while responding to a question Begum Najma Hameed about gold and silver project in the country.

He said that occurrence and showings of gold and silver had been reported from various parts of the country including Balochistan, Gilgit-Baltistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkhawa.

However, the reserves of these occurrences and showings have not been confirmed except Saindak and Reko-Diq deposits, an area of district Chagi of Balochistan.

The minister also informed the House about estimated reserves of gold and silver in the country saying that Reko Diq Project has proven reserves of 1275.75 ton gold besides unquantified reserves of silver in the area.

While giving details about Saindak Copper-Gold Project, the Minister said that Saindak is the only project in the country which is producing gold silver as a by-product in a nominal quantity as only 7.891 ton gold was produced so far.

It may be mentioned here that Reko Diq has a World's largest Gold and Copper reserves according to a report prepared by Tethyan Copper of Australia which was awarded the contract to develop this mine.