Balochistan: A rich mineral resources land

By Farhad Karim Baloch

As I have written an article before this month in which I intended to expose the Reqo Diq gold project. Here I m going to make you aware about the natural resources which are found in large amount in Baloch land and also I go for the details of these resources.

Following minerals resources are being exploited:

1) Coal

2) Chromate

3) Barytes

4) Sulphur

5) Marble

6) Iron Ore

7) Quartzite

8)Limestone

Coal:

Balochistan has large reservoirs of coal in kohlu district and vicinity of Quetta.

Chromite:

Deposits of this mineral are found at Muslimbagh, district Killa Saifullah. Lasbela, Khuzdar, Kharan and Chaghi district.

Barytes:

Bbarytes deposit is located near Khuzdar with a total reserve of over 2.00 million tones.  Grinding of this mineral started in 1976.

Sulphur:

Sulphur is found at Koh-e-Sultan in District Chaghi.

Marble:

Large deposits are found throughout district Chaghi, starting from Dalbandin and extending to the borders of Iran. Also some deposits are located at Zardkan, Siah-Chang, Jhulli, Patkok, Maskichah, Zeh, Chilgazi and Buttak. Onyx,a superior quality is found in Bolan, Lasbela and Khuzdar districts.

Iron Ore:

Only Chaghi possesses nearly 30 million tonnes of iron ore. According to reports there are 1 to 7 meters( averaging about 2 meters) thick hematitic sedimentary ironstone bed of Jurassic age(150 million years old) at the contact of Chiltan Limestone, and Sember formation of Cretaceous age (150-65 million years old) near Johan in Dilband area of Mastung district.

Quartzite:

Its deposits are found in Lasbela.

Limestone:

This is found in Quetta and Kalat. Limestone is also found in Balochistan. Harnai, Sor Range, and Spintangi areas.

Sulphor:

Sulphors are found at Koh-i-Sultan in Chaghi district.

Minerals:

Revenue of mineral is $1.5 billion per annum; we know that more than 50 metallic and non-metallic minerals have been discovered in Balochistan. Metallic ores are chromites, copper, gold, silver, iron ore, lead and zinc, while the non-metallic include barite, marble, granite, gypsum, limestone, coal, dolomite, calcite, silica sand.

Oil and gas:

Revenue of gas is $42 billion per year; According to the Geological Survey of Pakistan (GSP) there are reserves of 19 trillion cubic feet of gas and 6 trillion barrels of oil in Balochistan.Oil and gas reservoirs are also found in Panjgur, Lasbella, Kharan, Kalat and Marri districts. Gas fields in Balochistan supply 45% or 11 billion cubic meters of Pakistan’s total gas requirements that generates $1.4 billion annually, Balochistan produce 2 million bbl/day in a very . Balochistan can generate $140 million per day or approximately $40 billion per year in revenue.

Gwadar port:

Revenue of Gwadar port is $10 billion per year;

Gwadar is located outside the Straight of Hormuz, Gwadar Port offer directroad access to Afghanistan, Central Asian States, and China.

The Port could accommodate 13 multipurpose berths, each 200 meters long with a 5-km approach channel and the capacity for vessels up to 50,000 DWT container ships, 100,000 DWT dry bulk carriers, and up to 200,000 DWT oil tankers.

Fisheries:

 Balochistan consists of 1,000-km long coastal belt along the Arabian Sea. More than 60 species of fish and 10 of shrimps are found in Balochistan sea water.