World's 5th largest gold, copper reserves found in Pakistan

The world's fifth largest reserves of gold and copper were discovered in Chaghi area in Pakistan's southwest Balochistan province, local newspaper The News reported on Thursday.

Director General of Provincial Department of Mineralogy Maqbool Ahmed said that two multinationals, Canadian and Chilean-firms, which were issued licenses 10 years earlier for exploration of gold in the Bekodik area, have completed the exploration work and have chalked out a project for the extraction of gold and copper.

In the preliminary stage, the two companies will invest a billion U.S. dollars in the project, Ahmed said.

According to Ahmed, 200,000 tons of copper and 400,000 ounce of gold will be produced annually through the said project.

The Balochistan government will get a share of 25 percent. With the start of the project, employment will be provided to 3,000 youth of the province.

According to Ahmed, there are gold reserve in Zhob and Lasbela districts of the province and nine multinationals have been issued licenses for their exploration.

However, the opposition parties in the province expressing their reservations charged that federal government wishes to loot the resources of the province.

Source: Xinhua