Mineral Resources of Pakistan

• Subtitle
 Table of Contents
• What are minerals and how are they formed?
• Mining processes
• Metallic and Non metallic Minerals
• Effects of Mining
• Protection from Mining Hazards
What are Minerals?
Introduction
• Minerals are inorganic natural substances and one of the natural resources of a country.
They are obtained from under the surface of the earth.
• Mining is an important industry in Pakistan. Pakistan has deposits of several minerals
including coal, copper, gold, chromite, mineral salt, bauxite and several other minerals.
There are also a variety of precious and semi-precious minerals that are also mined.
How are Minerals Formed?
• Some minerals are formed from hot magma, which contains the minerals. Most minerals
are formed underground when heat and pressure transform one form of the rock into
another.
• Some minerals are formed near or on the surface. These occur when mineral rich fluids
evaporate. They can also be formed when volcanic rocks are broken down by wind and
water.
 Mining Processes
• There are three main methods of mining.

Open-cast Mining:

• Some minerals like coal and iron often lie near the surface. These minerals are scooped up by open-cast mining. The
mineral bearing rocks are stripped off by the giant excavators and power shovels, which then load the materials into
lorries or railway wagons to be carried away.

Adit Mining:

• An adit is an opening or passage. Adit mining is done in hilly districts where a mineral seam is exposed on a hillside.
The passage may be horizontal or may slope up. Horizontal tunnels are dug into the sides of a valley or hill to reach
the mineral deposits.

Shaft Mining:

• Vertical shafts are dug down to the minerals, especially for coal. Tunnels are then dug horizontally to the layers of the
mineral which is then removed through the tunnels.

• This method is expensive and can be dangerous. For both adit and shaft mining attention must be given to the
problems of ventilation and underground transport.

• Dangerous gases are also present underground, with risk of poisoning and explosions, causing the tunnel roofs to
collapse.
Open-Cast Mining in Sindh
Adit Mining
Shaft Mining
 Types of Minerals
Metallic Minerals
• Economically more valuable.
• Generally hard, tough and shiny.
• Can change shape without breaking.
• Can be stretched and compressed.
• Many are good thermal and electrical
conductors.
• More reactive with water and acid.
• These include Iron, Copper, Chromite,
Gold, Silver and Tin.
Non-metallic Minerals
• Economically less valuable except for power resources.
• Softer, rough and may not shine.
• Break away when shape is changed.
• Can not be stretched or compressed.
• Are poor thermal and electrical conductors as they are
used in construction industry.
• Less reactive with water and acid.
These include Rock salt, Limestone, Coal, Natural Gas,
Gypsum, Marble and Sulphur.
 Non-Metallic Minerals
• Coal: Pakistan has low quality coal. Coal is mainly
used in brick furnaces, some is used to make coke
coal bricks and a small percentage is used for power
generation. It is planned to build a thermal power
station to use the coal from a new coalfield in Thar
District. Pakistan has world’s 5th largest coal reserves.
Thar coalfield

• Limestone: Limestone is a major sedimentary

deposit and is widespread in Pakistan. It is the main
raw material for cement. It is also used in the
manufacture of bleaching powder, glass, soap, paper
and paints. It is used to treat sugarcane waste to
produce alcohol fuel.

Limestone quarrying in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

• Rock Salt: Seams of rock salt vary in thickness
from between 20 to 100 meters thick. The rocks are
white or pink in color. The salt is covered by
Gypsum and clay. Rock salt is used for cooking,
preservative and manufacturing purposes.
• A tunnel inside the Khewra salt mine. Rock salt is
extracted here through adit mining.

• Natural Gas: Natural gas was discovered in

1952 a Sui, Balochistan, by Pakistan Petroleum
Limited (PPL) while drilling in search of oil. It is
an important fuel found in oil bearing rocks above
the oil. These rocks have millions of tiny holes
which act like a sponge and soak up the gas as it is
formed.
• A sui gas pipeline in Balochistan.
 Metallic Minerals
• Gold: Pakistan had discovered a gold source that is
the second biggest near the district of Chiniot which
is in the Punjab province. Estimates say that this
district may contain up to 500 million tons of gold in
its 28 km area and will have a total worth of about a
trillion dollars.
• There are many gold mines in Pakistan which is
operated by Barrick Gold.
• Sarhad Development authority has reported its
finding of several gold bearing horizons in the region
of Chitral. The Saindak Copper/Gold mine is located
near Saindak in the Chagai District of Baluchistan.
• Reko Diq is very famous for its reserves of Copper
and Gold and it is the 5th largest gold mine in the
whole world.
• Chromite: The chrome deposits of Pakistan are
largely of the Alpine types. Chromite is a white-
coloured metal used in the making of steel, dyes,
photography items and airplanes. Pakistan has the
world's largest reserves of chromite and this natural
resource is found in Muslim Bagh, Chagai, Kharan,
Malakand and North Waziristan.
• The chromite is found as pods, lenses and irregularly
shaped bodies. The chromite deposit in Pakistan.

• Iron: Iron ore is used for the manufacturing of steel

and iron. The largest deposits of iron ore are found in
Kala Bagh. They are also found at Hazara district,
Chitral, Khuzdar and Muslim Bagh.

• Iron Ore.
• Copper: Copper is needed for the
manufacturing of electrical goods. Rich
reserves of copper are found in Saindak and
Chaghi district in Balochistan.
• The Saindak copper/gold project is situated in
Chagai district of Balochistan. Its trial
produced 1550 tons of Blister copper.
• Saindak Copper /Gold mine in Chagai district
of Balochistan.

• The initial output of around 10000 tons raw

copper per day is estimated to pave the way
for 15810 tons of blister copper production.

• A Copper Mine in Pakistan.

 Gem stone (semi precious minerals) In Pakistan
• A number of precious stones are mined and
polished for local as well as export purposes
in Pakistan.
• The centre point of this operation is Khyber-
Pakhtunkhwa, tribal areas, Gilgit-Baltistan
and Balochistan.
• Pakistani gemstones include a variety of
minerals such as ruby, peridot, aquamarine,
topaz, titanite, corundum and emerald,
making the country quite significant in the
mineral world.
• In 1979, Gemstones Corporation of Pakistan
was established to develop the gemstones
export sector in Pakistan.
• Emerald stone.
 Effects of Mining
• When minerals are extracted , the vegetation has
to be cut down which results in soil exposure and
natural landscape is deformed.
• In order to provide infrastructure facilities to the
miners, roads and houses are constructed.
• During the mining process, rocks are blasted
which results in vibration and noise pollution.
• In underground mining the earth is dug out. If the
depressions are not filled , they may become
flooded by heavy rainfall.
• In Pakistan mostly traditional mining is practiced
which is very hazardous to the health of miners
because no safety standards are taken into
consideration.
 Protection from Mining Hazards
• In order to minimize the environmental
degradation due to mining, the following
measures should be considered.
• The people involved in the mining process
should be given proper protective clothing
with masks so that are not affected by gases
and dust.
• The land should be levelled and depressions
should be filled in after the mining activity
to avoid deformation.
• Water treatment plants should be set up to
supply clean water to the workers living
near the mines.
• All the mining waste gases, fumes and semi
solid waste should be properly treated
before their final disposal.
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