Chinese group ready to explore gold in Pakistan
SHAHNAWAZ AKHTER
KARACHI (May 23 2007): China's second largest mining group is gearing up for gold exploration in Pakistani soil. In this regard negotiations between company and Pakistani officials are underway. Sources in the Sindh Mines and Mineral Department told Business Recorder on Tuesday that Zhijin group, the second largest mining group of China, had shown keen interest in gold exploration.
The group was interested to do prospecting work for gold near Pak-China border as there were good chances of finding gold, they said. Sources said that the three-member Pakistani delegation comprising Muhammad Hassan Brohi, Assistant Director, Mines and Mineral Development Department, Sindh, Raja Muhammad Akhter Iqbal, official of Ministry of P&NR, Islamabad, Farooq Ahmed Awan, Mineral Recourse, Muzaffarabad, Azad Jammu and Kashmir visited China recently. They informed the Chinese entrepreneurs about the potential of natural resources and investment friendly environment in Pakistan.
Several Chinese companies had shown desire to visit Pakistan but Zhijin group had responded immediately and sent a letter to the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources about the potential of gold availability near the Pak-China border area and requested to arrange meetings to start mapping of the area.
Sources said that the group was engaged currently in exploration, mining processing, refining of gold and non-ferrous metals and sale of mineral products.
The group is a famous gold and non-ferrous metals producer in China and their shares are listed on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited. The group had invested in several projects and established 88 subsidiaries at home and abroad.
Zijin Mining Group had its own Research & Development centre and exploration team that had expertise about the core technologies for producing gold.
Interestingly, the overall production cost of gold was worth 58.53 Yuan/gram. This low cost had kept ahead the domestic industry, sources said. By year-end 2006, on the basis of equity, the group possessed major metal resources/reserves. This include 455 tonnes of copper 2.38 million tonnes of Zinc, 0.5446 million tonnes of nickle, 0.26 million tonnes of molybdenum, 0.40 million tonnes of lead, 1.51 tonnes of platinum and palladium, 0.188 billion tonnes of iron ore, 100 thousand tonnes of tin etc.
The group obtained 27 mining rights covering an area of 41.3 sq km and 179 exploration rights with a total area of 5972 sq km. China Geological Survey (CGS) had also shown interest for enhancement of the co-operation in geo-sciences between China and Pakistan to improve the level of corporation, sources said.
CGS suggested that in collaboration with Pakistan Geological survey, the two sides could co-operate in basic geological and tectonic correlation research, preferably, in border area of Pakistan and China.
http://www.brecorder.com/index.php?id=567791&currPageNo=2&query=&search=&term=&supDate=
SHAHNAWAZ AKHTER
KARACHI (May 23 2007): China's second largest mining group is gearing up for gold exploration in Pakistani soil. In this regard negotiations between company and Pakistani officials are underway. Sources in the Sindh Mines and Mineral Department told Business Recorder on Tuesday that Zhijin group, the second largest mining group of China, had shown keen interest in gold exploration.
The group was interested to do prospecting work for gold near Pak-China border as there were good chances of finding gold, they said. Sources said that the three-member Pakistani delegation comprising Muhammad Hassan Brohi, Assistant Director, Mines and Mineral Development Department, Sindh, Raja Muhammad Akhter Iqbal, official of Ministry of P&NR, Islamabad, Farooq Ahmed Awan, Mineral Recourse, Muzaffarabad, Azad Jammu and Kashmir visited China recently. They informed the Chinese entrepreneurs about the potential of natural resources and investment friendly environment in Pakistan.
Several Chinese companies had shown desire to visit Pakistan but Zhijin group had responded immediately and sent a letter to the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources about the potential of gold availability near the Pak-China border area and requested to arrange meetings to start mapping of the area.
Sources said that the group was engaged currently in exploration, mining processing, refining of gold and non-ferrous metals and sale of mineral products.
The group is a famous gold and non-ferrous metals producer in China and their shares are listed on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited. The group had invested in several projects and established 88 subsidiaries at home and abroad.
Zijin Mining Group had its own Research & Development centre and exploration team that had expertise about the core technologies for producing gold.
Interestingly, the overall production cost of gold was worth 58.53 Yuan/gram. This low cost had kept ahead the domestic industry, sources said. By year-end 2006, on the basis of equity, the group possessed major metal resources/reserves. This include 455 tonnes of copper 2.38 million tonnes of Zinc, 0.5446 million tonnes of nickle, 0.26 million tonnes of molybdenum, 0.40 million tonnes of lead, 1.51 tonnes of platinum and palladium, 0.188 billion tonnes of iron ore, 100 thousand tonnes of tin etc.
The group obtained 27 mining rights covering an area of 41.3 sq km and 179 exploration rights with a total area of 5972 sq km. China Geological Survey (CGS) had also shown interest for enhancement of the co-operation in geo-sciences between China and Pakistan to improve the level of corporation, sources said.
CGS suggested that in collaboration with Pakistan Geological survey, the two sides could co-operate in basic geological and tectonic correlation research, preferably, in border area of Pakistan and China.
http://www.brecorder.com/index.php?id=567791&currPageNo=2&query=&search=&term=&supDate=
