REVIEW OF ENORMOUS MINERALS AND NATRUAL RESOURCES OF PAKISTAN.

Byline: NAZIR AHMED SHAIKH

Pakistan is 6th most populous country of world having a population of 219,652,490 people; which is 2.83% of the total world population. Pakistan covers an area of 881,913 km2 (340,509 sq. mi), approximately equal to the combined land areas of France and the United Kingdom. It is the 33rd-largest nation of the world by total area. Pakistan is one of those countries which have enormous rich natural resources.

It is blessed with vast land, natural gas reserves, petroleum, extensive coal, iron ore, copper, salt, limestone and gold besides other natural resources, many of them hitherto undiscovered. In fact, according to one survey, Pakistan has the second largest salt mine, second largest coal reservoirs, fifth largest gold mines and seventh largest copper mines. There are 92 known minerals of which 52 are commercially exploited with a total production of 68.52 million metric tons per year. The sector is a promising one with an average growth of 2-3% per annum.

Minerals are broadly classified into three categories:

* Metallic Minerals: includes metalliferous ores, aluminum, etc. * Non Metallic Minerals: include dimensional stones, clay, salt silica, etc.

* Energy/strategic Minerals: include, coal, Oil, Natural Gas etc. Pakistan has immense reserves of a number of minerals and natural resources that include coal, gold, copper, bauxite, mineral salt, chromite, iron ore, and many others. Pakistan also mines a variety of precious and semi-precious minerals including ruby, topaz, and emerald. Many of the natural resources of Pakistan have not been discovered due to various limitations. Some figures reveal that natural resources exploration is probably only 20-30 percent of actual deposit estimates.

There is a need to develop a sound strategy to explore and utilize the resources. The mineral sector of Pakistan despite of having huge reserves base of good quality minerals is still lagging far behind as compared to the world's mineral market. As compared to the world's minerals export market of 3,612 billion USD, the exports of Pakistan are negligibly small with a value of 1.17 billion USD during the last year. Pakistan is endowed with significant mineral reserves. The country has the world's second largest salt mines and coal reserves, fifth largest copper and gold reserves, and second largest coal deposits, as well as an estimated 618 billion barrels of crude oil.

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