BRINGING MINING IN PAKISTAN UP TO

INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS
Appendix 3 Provincial mining industry in Pakistan

Pakistan Mining Working Group


Pakistan Mining Working Group

Mineral resources of Pakistan provinces and regions
1 Punjab province

The main mineral resources of the province are coal, rock salt, iron ore, gypsum, dolomite, fireclay, silica
sand and limestone. Most of these minerals are sedimentary deposits, associated with the Salt Range,
which is an east northeasterly trending mountain front abruptly rising from the Punjab plains, at a
distance of about 200 kilometers from the capital city of Lahore, Punjab Province.





Mineral
deposits also
occur in the
Suleman range
in Dera Ghazi
Khan and
Rajanpur districts, Cholistan in the south of the province and the chiniot-rajoa area of central Punjab. Iron
ore and other associated minerals like copper, nickel, gold and silver have been confirmed through
drilling in Chiniot. Copper and lead-zinc mineralization is also likely to occur in the Kirana hills, which
are an arcuate extension of the Aravalli Mountain Range of India which hosts the well-known Khetri
copper belt and Zawar lead-zinc mineralization of Rajasthan.
Metallic Minerals
Iron ore: As a result of exploration work, including geological, geophysical surveys and seventeen core
drill holes, anomalous zones containing iron ore and other associated metallic minerals have been
confirmed in Chiniot with strong indications in Rajoa. The deposits are of volcanogenic origin and buried
under the alluvial cover ranging from 78 to 175 meters with aquifers. In Chiniot, hematite zone occurs at
the top, hematite-magnetite zone in the middle and an as yet open ended sulfide zone at the bottom.
Historical estimates of tonnage of iron ore mineralization in Chiniot are 110 million tones and in Rajoa
500 million tones. Large deposits of iron ore also occur in Kalabagh at Chichali, Makerwal and Kutch.
Inferred estimates of reserves at Kalabagh are 290 million tones. Mineralogically, the Kalabagh Iron ore
consists of carbonate and silicate components with impregnations of limonite. The iron content ranges
from 30-35%.
Aluminum: Bauxite, which is used as an ore of aluminum, is found in the districts of Attock and
Khushab. High alumina clay and bauxite deposits which occur in the Kala Chitta range of the Attock
contain 30-50 % alumina and the estimated reserves are 96 million tons. Bauxite is currently produced in
small amounts from Khushab.


Non-metallic minerals

Abrasive minerals

Natural Sand: Natural sand occurs in massive quantities in various districts of the Punjab Province. In
2012 there were x number of sand mining leases in the province annually producing xx tons of sand.
Ceramic minerals

Fire clay: Substantial reserves of fire clay occur in Salt Range and in D.G. Khan, Mianwali, Sargodha and
Attock districts of Punjab.

Industrial minerals

Gypsum: Huge deposits of gypsum and anhydrite are found in Salt Range and D.G. Khan in Punjab.

Silica sand: The silica sand deposits of Mianwali District are the main producing deposits of the country.
Silica sand deposits in Khisor and Marwat, between Paniala and Pezu, over a length of 16 km and are
estimated to contain 20 million tons of reserves (Raza and Iqbal 1997). In Salt Range and Surghar Range
glass sand beds from 73 meters to 730 meter occur in Datta Formation and Patala Formation.
Salt: Large reserves of salt occur in the salt range. Salt has been mined for over 500 years from the
Khewra salt mines. The present annual production of rock salt is in excess of 1 million tons. Rock salt is
mostly used within the country. About 40% of the total output is consumed to produce soda ash, caustic
soda and used in the leather industries and the rest is marketed for human consumption. Some production
is exported to Afghanistan and India.

Limestone/Dolomite: Punjab is bestowed with fine quality, uniquely textured dolomitize Limestone with
huge reserves. Most of the deposits are exposed on the surface with well-developed outcrops. The beds
are thick and massive, capable of producing rectangular large sized blocks with provision for cuttings
across / along the bedding planes. They attain shine on cutting and polishing of the surfaces. The
limestone has a variety of colors i.e. beige, cream, grey, pink, offwhite, and pale yellow etc., with
fossiliferous backgrounds giving ornamental orientation. High calcium limestone is available for efficient
and productive use in the low cost production of cement.
Energy producing
Coal: Substantial coal resources have been found in the Eastern and Central Salt Range and in Makerwal
area of the Surghar Range. A coal resource potential of 235 million tons was estimated during a study in
1984-1988 by the geological survey of Pakistan in collaboration with United States Geological Survey.
The thickness of the coal seam varies from 0.3 to 2.13 meters with an average of 0.43 meter. In
Makerwal the average thickness is about one meter. The quality of coal ranges from Hv sub C to Hv sub
B. The average reported annual production is 650,000 tons. Reauthentication of the coal resources
through an Australian Consulting Firm, SNOWDEN is in process. The resources estimated as per JORC
standards are to the tune of 500 million tones.

The coal resources base of the Punjab Province is over 250 million tons. The coal seams are, however,
thin and large-scale coal production needed for big power plants appears to be difficult. However, its
nearness to highly populated centers has provided a a ready market with high demand. It has thus been
possible to mine with profit coal seams, which are 12 inches thick or less. This trend will continue as
long as the brick industry grows and thrives.

Coal Resources of Punjab


Mineral processing

There are a large number of cement factories based on limestone and gypsum production in Punjab. Most
of them are located in the Salt range with one large factory in Dera Ghazi Khan district. A number of
chemical factories reliant on salt range salt are in commercial production. These factories consume a large
part of industrial salt production in the Province. Glass factories based on silica sand are also established
in the province.
1 Sindh

Metallic minerals

No major metallic mineral resource has been identified by GSP in Sindh province

Non-metallic minerals

Abrasive minerals

Natural Sand: Natural sand is found in massive quantities in Sindh province, the major deposits being in
the Indus river and the Thar desert in the east.

Ceramic minerals

China Clay: China clay is found in Nagar Parker, Sindh.
Fuller Earth: Fullers earth occurs in Dadu and Khairpur districts, Sindh.
Fire Clay: Substantial reserves of fire clay occur in Thatta and Dadu districts of Sindh.
Feldspar: Feldspar deposits are found in Nagar Parker.
Coal field Average
mineable
thickness
Proved Indicated Inferred Hypothetical Total Coal Rank
(ASTM)
Makarwal 0.75 5 8 9 22 hvCB-hvAB
Salt range 0.5 43 13 178 234 hvCb
Total 48 21 9 178 256
Celestite: Small reserves of celestite deposits occur in Dadu district of Sindh.

Industrial minerals
Granite:
Granite is mined in Nagarparker, Sindh
Energy producing
Coal: Over 175 billion tons of good quality lignite has been discovered in Thar. The discovery at Thar
has made Pakistan 11th largest country in terms of large coal reserves.
3 Balochistan

Metallic minerals

Antimony: Antimony has been sporadically mined in the past near Qila Abdullah. In this area, stibnite is
associated with quartz veins, which fill fractures and joints in Khojak shales of Oligocene age. More
showings of antimony in similar geological settings have been recently discovered by GSP in Kharan
district. The present estimate of available reserves of antimony in Balochistan is 26,000 tons. Its
production from the province was 245 metric tons during 2007-2008.

Aluminum: Bauxite is found in the district of Ziarat.

Manganese: Manganese ores in Balochistan are found at many localities in Lasbela, Khuzdar, Chagai and
Zhob districts. The most important among these are the deposits found in Khuzdar and Lasbela districts.
The host rock of almost all the manganese deposits is the volcanic assemblage of olivine basalt and pillow
lava belonging to Bela volcanic Group. The manganese minerals, mainly the psilomelane and pyrolusite,
occur in the jasperoitic layer above pillow lava and below shaley sedimentary rocks. The average range of
manganese content of Balochistan manganese deposits is from 8.2% to 50.56%. Estimated reserves are
about 0.42 million tons.The manganese occurrences in Chagai district are found as coating and film in the
quartz veins cutting limestone beds and basalts of Cretaceous age. These occurrences are reported from
Siah Koh and Sotkinoh in Chagai district.

Chromium: Rocks favorable for the localization of chromite are exposed in Lasbela, Khuzdar, Kharan,
Muslim Bagh and Zhob districts of Balochistan, .Total estimated reserves are 2.527 million tons of
chromite with 0.55 million tons in Muslim Bagh and 1.3 million tons in Khuzdar. The deposits at Kabbar
(Wadh), Pat Nadi and Sonaro in Khuzdar district are associated with harzburgite and dunite in the form of
small lenses to massive tabular bodies. These deposits produce around 10,000 tons of chromite annually.

Copper: 22 porphyry type copper prospects, which normally contain large tonnage of low-grade ore, have
been located by GSP in Chagai district. One of these, Saindak, has been proved to contain 412 million
tons of ore averaging about 0.4% Cu and is producing 15,810 tons of copper, 2.76 tons of silver and 1.47
tons of gold per annum. The deposit at Reko Diq, which has been drilled and explored in detail by
BHP/TCC, is proved to contain over 5 billion tons of copper ore. Other deposits at Dasht e Kain, Durban
chah, Makkichah, Ziarat Pir Sultan and Malik Siah Koh are still to be drill explored in detail. Massive
sulfide type copper deposits, with high grade but small tonnage, have been found in Lasbela, Khuzdar and
Chagai districts.

Lead-Zinc: Many carbonate hosted zinc-lead occurrences with potential of commercial production have
been identified in Lasbela-Khuzdar region. Duddar has been proved to contain over 10 million tons of
high-grade ore with over 12% metal content and it has been producing10-12 thousand tons annually for
the last two years. Two more deposits in district Khuzdar, similar to the Duddar deposit, which have been
partially explored are Surmai, with 2.93 million tons of ore reserve and Gunga with 10 million tons of ore
reserves.

Gold: Porphyry copper deposits generally contain gold. Saindak deposit has been estimated to contain
206 tons (7,266,436 ounces) of gold at 0.5 g/ton. Reko Diq deposits contain about 1450 tons (51,147,244
ounces) of Gold at 0.29 g/ton. Prospects similar to these in Chagai district, when developed, will be large
producers of this precious metal.

Iron: Large deposit of relatively low grade iron ore i.e. more than 250 million tons has been discovered by
GSP in Dilband area of Kalat district. Small deposits of iron ore are also present at Pachin Koh (45
million tons), Chalghazi (23 million tons) in Chagai District. It is expected that large deposits of high-
grade ore of iron will be found in other areas of Chagai district of Balochistan. A summary of deposits in
Balochistan is as follows:

# Area/Locality Reserves
(million tons)
Quality
Chemical Mineralogical
1. Dilband, Kalat District 250 40- 60% Fe
2

O
3

Sedimentary ore
with predominant
heamatite
2. Chagai District
(Chigendik, Pachin
Koh, Chilghazi).
81

20-55% Fe


Magnetite.
3 Uthal Lasbela District,
Balochistan
Not estimated Up to 45%
Fe
Metamorphic ore
with predominant
magnetite.
TOTAL 331


Non-metallic minerals

Abrasive minerals

Quartzite: Quartzite occurs in bela area Balochistan.
Pumice and Basalt: Pumice and basalt are found in Chagai district of Balochistan
Natural Sand: Natural sand occurs in huge quantities in nearly all parts of Baluchistan
Ceramic minerals

Baryte: Balochistan contains very large deposits of Baryte. These deposits are located in the area
between Uthal and Khuzdar. The barite is found in Zidi, Shirinab and Windar formations (Triassic-
Jurassic) forming bedded replacement or shear veins of hydrothermal origin. The ore bodies generally
contain large tonnage. Deposits at Gunga near Khuzdar and Duddar in Bela district have been
investigated in detail and are estimated to contain over 12 million tonnes of Barytes is present (Ahsan
1994). The production of Baryte was 49,268 metric tonnes in the province during 2007-2008.
Fluorite: Balochistan province is the main producer of fluorite in Pakistan. Fluorite is found in Maran,
Pad Maran and Dilband areas of Kalat. These deposits were discovered and evaluated by GSP (Bakar
1965; Abbas et al. 1980). Fluorite is found as bedded replacement, shear veins and fracture filled bodies
in Chiltan limestone of Jurassic age. The hydrothermal solutions depositing fluorite have deposited
calcite along with the fluorite in Maran and Dilband areas, while silica and barites occur as important
gangue minerals in Pad Maran area. The reserves are estimated at over 0.1 million tons (Abbas et al.
1980). High grade ore (over 96% CaF2 and less than 5% SiO2) is mined from Maran and Dilband areas,
while low grade ore with less than 85% CaF2 and high SiO2 content is found at Pad Maran.

Industrial minerals

Gypsum: Balochistan has very large reserves of gypsum/anhydrite at Spintangi and Chamalang. No
production of gypsum has been reported from any part of the province

Sulfur: In Pakistan sulfur occurs only in Balochistan in Koh-i-Sultan and Sanni areas of Chagai district
and the total reserves are 0.8 million tons.

Limestone: Balochistan has vast resources of limestone extending from the coastal region near Karachi to
as far north as the Chagai and Zhob. In most places the limestone is exposed near the railway tracks or
road, making its utilization easy. These rocks generally contain over 80% calcium carbonate, less than
5% silica and less than 1% iron oxide making them suitable raw material for the manufacture of cement.
However, the existing cement factories utilize only a fraction of the vast resource available in the country.
Production of limestone was 727,951 metric tons during 2007-2008.

Building stones

Granite: Attractive and good quality granite occurs in Chagai, Zhob, Kila Saifullah and Lasbela areas.

Marble: Production of marble, which may include some good quality re-crystallized and fossiliferous
limestone, was 267,312 metric tons during 2007-2008. Onyx marble of high quality is found in Chagai
District. Production of onyx marble remained 70,444 metric tons during 2007-2008.


Energy producing

Coal: During the early years of World WarII, the Balochistan contributed 10% to the total coal
production of India. At the end of war this region was producing over 130,000 tons of coal annually,
totaling about 45% of the coal production of British India (Shah, 1990). At the time of independence,
coal mining in Pakistan was carried out in seven or eight fields. Production averaged at around 150,000
tonnes and most of it was mined from Balochistan.

There are six coal areas in Balochistan where coal-mining activities are in progress. These are - Khost
ShahrigHarnai; Duki; Sor RangDaghari; Pir Ismail Ziarat; Mach and recently mining was started in
Chamalang area but it has been abandoned due to tribal conflict. All of the Balochistan coal measures
are confined to the Ghazi Formation of Early to Middle Eocene in age. Production of coal was 2,325,220
metric tons during 2007-2008.

The coal resources of Balochistan are described below:



Table 5 Summary of Coal Resources of Balochistan (million tons)





4 Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa
Metallic minerals
Aluminum: Bauxite is found in the districts of Abbottabad, Kohat and Chitral
Chromium: Rocks favourable for the localization of chromite are exposed in Malakand and Kohistan
districts of Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa. Total estimated reserves in Jijal Kohistan are 0.6 million tons.
Gold: Large areas with anomalous concentration of gold have also been identified in the northern
mountain belt of the country and it is expected that quite a few commercially exploitable deposits will be
found in the area.
Iron: High grade iron ore has been identified in DammerNesar, Chitraland Nizampur area of Khyber
Pakhtoonkhwa (168 million tons)
Miscellaneous: The northern mountain belt has been found to contain good potential for high value metals
such as platinum, tungsten and lithium.

Non-metallic minerals

Abrasive minerals

Garnet: Garnet is found in Dir, Swat and Kohistan districts of Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa.
# Coalfield Proved Indicated Inferred Hypothetical Total Mineable
1 Khost-Shahrig
Harnai
13 63 76 8
2 Sor Range
Daghari
15 19 16 50 9
3 Duki 14 11 25 50 8
4 MachAbegum 9 14 23 5
5 Pir
Ismail Ziarat
2 2 8 12 1.2
6 Chamalang 1 5 6 0.6
Total 54 13 134 16 217 32
Quartzite: Quartzite occurs in Cherat, Tarbela and other places
Natural sand: It occurs in nearly all the districts of the province.

Ceramic minerals

China Clay: China clay is found in Swat
Fire Clay: Substantial reserves of fire clay occur in D. I. Khan district.
Barite: Barite occurs in Abbottabad district.
Feldspar: Feldspar deposits are found in Swat and Chitral districts of Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa.
Industrial minerals

Building stones:

Granite: In KPK Granite is mainly found in Mansehra
5 Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA)

The Federally Administered Tribal Areas is the collective name of 7 agencies and 4 regions jointly
administered by the Federal Government and local tribes. It is an area of pristine natural beauty and
unique tribal culture.

Metallic minerals
Chromium: Host rocks favorable for the localization of chromite (chromium ore) are exposed in
Waziristan and Mohmand Agencies of FATA.
Copper: Massive sulfide type copper deposits, with high grade but small tonnage, are found in Waziristan
Agency of FATA.
6 Azad Jammu and Kashmir

Azad Jammu and Kashmir is an autonomous territory administered by the Azad Kashmir Government in
close collaboration with the Government of Pakistan.

Metallic minerals
Aluminum: Bauxite, deposits of Muzafarabad-Kotli, AJK contain 30 -50 % alumina and estimated
reserves are 11.5 million tons.
Gold: Large areas with anomalous concentration of gold have also been identified in the northern
mountain belt of the country and it is expected that quite a few commercially exploitable deposits will be
found in the area.
Miscellaneous: Northern mountain belt has been found to contain good potential for high value metals
such as platinum, tungsten and lithium.
Non-metallic minerals
Industrial minerals
Limestone, Shale and Gypsum: Large deposits of mineral used in cement manufacturing (Limestone,
Shale and Gypsum) are available in surrounding area of Muzafarabad Town.
Abrasive minerals
Bentonite: Five million tons of good quality Bentonite is available in Mirpur. The mineral is suitable for
bleaching edible oil and has substantial demand in the country and has also has export potential.

Precious stone

Ruby: Forty million grams of high grade ruby has been assessed in the Neelam Valley.

Building stones

Graphite: Foundry and crucible type of graphite deposits are found in upper Neelum Valley, having one
and 0.1 million tons reserves respectively. The mineral has been processed and up graded on pilot plant
scale and found suitable for Industrial use. Pakistan currently imports 5000 tons of Graphite annually
(Estimated worth: PKR 60 million) which can be easily substituted by production from Neelum.
Energy producing
Coal

Azad Kashmir Mineral and Industrial Development Corporation has assessed and evaluated coal deposit
in Kerela (Nikial), Kotli. The Corporation intends to exploit these deposits, which are spread over an area
of 572.29 acres, on public private partnership basis
Table: Minerals of Azad Kashmir
























7 Gilgit-Baltistan
Gilgit-Baltistan formerly known as the Federally Administered Northern Areas are a high mountainous
and glacial area in the north of the country administered by the Government of Gilgit Baltistan.

Metallic minerals
Gold: Large areas with anomalous concentration of gold have also been identified in the northern
mountain belt of the country and it is expected that quite a few commercially exploitable deposits will be
found in the area. Gold panning can be seen on the bank of the Indus at Diamer in lower Gilgit.
Miscellaneous: Northern mountain belt has been found to contain good potential for high value metals
such as platinum, tungsten and lithium.

Non-metallic minerals

Abrasive minerals

Pumice and Basalt: Pumice and basalt are found in Northern Areas.

Natural Sand: Natural sand occurs in large quantities

Ceramic minerals
Feldspar: Feldspar deposits are found in Gilgit and Skardu districts of Northern Areas