President Dr. Arif Alvi urges increased investment in mining and minerals sector

• President Arif Alvi emphasised the importance of tight coordination between the federal and provincial governments.
• He made remarks while speaking at a conference for stakeholders involved in mining exploration in Pakistan.

President Dr. Arif Alvi has emphasised the importance of tight, meaningful, and successful coordination between the federal and provincial governments, local authorities, and the public and private sectors to stimulate investment in the country’s mining and minerals sector.

He made the remarks while speaking at Aiwan-e-Sadr to a gathering of major business and public sector stakeholders involved in mining exploration in Pakistan. The conference was attended by senior officials from the Ministry of Energy (Petroleum Division), the Ministry of Commerce, the Federal Board of Revenue, and the Government of Gilgit-Baltistan.

Speaking on the occasion, the President stated that Pakistan is endowed with enormous high-quality mineral resources such as coal, copper, gold, gemstones, silver, and rare metals, which must be explored and mined using information-technology-based modern mining tools and processes to realise the full potential of the country’s mining sector and bring visible change to the country’s socio-economic development.

He stated that many parts of Pakistan were rich in minerals, oils, natural gas, rare metals, and nuclear substances, as well as precious metals such as gold, silver, copper, zinc, and many other industrial minerals that, if fully exploited by developing state-of-the-art refining and metallurgical processes in the country, could help Pakistan meet local industry demand while also earning valuable foreign exchange by exporting value-added mineral and metal products.

In addition to following international standards and best practises of mining and exploration, the President stated that issues relating to licencing for mining processes, exports of precious metal appliances, and withholding taxation policy should be targeted to promote the exploration of this hidden wealth.

The President emphasised the importance of using satellite imagery technology, as well as contemporary mineral detection, analysis, and exploration technologies, as well as educating relevant human resources in modern and safe mining practises, to make mining processes more efficient, effective, and safe.

He urged stakeholders to hold workshops and seminars to discuss and review existing policies and relevant laws, rules, and procedures, identify gaps, and develop a comprehensive set of proposals and recommendations for the government to consider when developing policies for the country’s mining and mineral exploration.

The President emphasised the importance of developing an effective research and development process for the exploration, refining, and creation of value-added mineral products by involving relevant universities and public and private sector research and development departments. He also advocated for increased border control capability and efficacy to prevent illegal exports and imports of mineral and metal-based products in order to protect the local sector.

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