CHINIOT: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has greeted the nation on discovery of iron, gold and copper reserves in Chiniot and said that the discovery will help the county break the “begging bowl”.
However, the prime minister regretted that Pakistan is facing acute shortage of resources, which has created gas and electricity crises. He revealed that the government doesn’t even have money to build a single power plant.
The prime minister was addressing a ceremony during his visit to the site of newly-discovered copper and gold deposits in Chiniot’s Rajua area. He hoped that it would provide jobs to around 100,000 people and bring about economic prosperity in the area. He blamed that the past governments caused unnecessary delay in discovering the mineral deposits. He expressed the hope that Chiniot would emerge on the world map as a favourite spot for international investors.
The PM was informed that the quality of iron ore deposits were equivalent to similar ones in Brazil, Russia and India, and had been estimated in thousands of tonnes. Samples had been tested from top laboratories of Canada and Switzerland, which confirmed the high quality of deposits. It was suggested that there should be more focus on excavating copper as it has a much higher value in the international market as copper fetches 5000 dollars a tonne against 100 dollars a tonne for iron.
The PM was informed that with the assistance of Metallurgical Corporation of China (MCC), a feasibility study had been completed in around nine-month time, which was to be completed in 18 months.
