Natural resources of Pakistan

[ghazi52]

Natural Resources of Pakistan

Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, located in South Asia has 650 miles of coastline on the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Oman. The west is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran. India is to the east and China in the far northeast. The country is strategically located between South Asia, Central Asia, and the Middle East. Land is a valuable natural resource.

Other natural resources include an extensive natural gas supply, some oil, hydro power potential, coal (although not high quality), iron ore, copper, salt, and limestone. Agricultural products are wheat, cotton, rice, sugarcane, eggs, fruit, vegetables, milk, beef, and mutton. Primary industry includes textiles, food processing, pharmaceuticals, construction materials, shrimp, fertilizer, and paper products. Major exports are textiles, rice, leather goods, sports goods, carpets, rugs, and chemicals. Pakistan imports petroleum, machinery, plastic, edible oil, iron, steel, tea, and paper.

Coal

Pakistan recently discovered one low and four low-to-medium quality coal seams in the Punjab. Low sulfur coal was recently reported at the Baluchistan and near Islamabad. Bituminous, sub-bituminous, and lignite coal have been found in Pakistan.

Coal reserves are estimated at 175 billion tons. This would equate to 618 billion barrels of crude oil. When compared to oil reserves his is more than twice the amount of the top four countries. If At KSA’s current usage, the reserves would last more than 200 years.

Oil and Gas

Natural gas production is at a high level in Pakistan. Estimated reserves are 885.3 billion cubic meters (as of January 2009). Gas fields are expected to last for another 20 years. The Sui gas field is the largest, accounting for 26% of Pakistan’s gas production. Daily production is 19 million cubic meters a day. Under the barren mountains of Balochistan and the sands of Sindh, there are untouched oil and gas reserves.

Forestry

Forests are limited to 4% of Pakistan’s land; nonetheless the forests are a main source of food, lumber, paper, fuel wood, latex, and medicine. The forests are also used for wildlife conversation and ecotourism.

Mining
Pakistan has large gold/copper ore deposits at Saindak. There are large deposits of rock salt in the Pothohar Plateau. Pakistan’s mineral resources include reserves of gypsum, limestone, chromites, iron ore, rock salt, silver, precious stones, gems, marbles, tiles, sulfur, fire clay, and silica sand.

Land

About 28% of Pakistan’s total land area is under cultivation. Pakistan boasts one of the largest irrigation systems in the world. According to Wikipedia, “the most important crops are cotton, wheat, rice, sugarcane, maize, sorghum, millets, pulses, oil seeds, barley, fruits and vegetables, which together account for more than 75% of the value of total crop output.” The fertile lands of Punjab are ready to feed a population twice that of current Pakistan.

Uranium

Pakistan has a long history of exporting small amounts of uranium. In 2006 Pakistan produced about 45 tons of uranium.

Water

The fishing industry plays a role in the national economy of Pakistan. The coastline is 814km and fishery resources still have room to grow. Fishing in Pakistan is a major source of export earnings.

Pakistan is rich in diverse natural resources. Pakistan’s human resources include a population of intelligent young people and a burgeoning urban middle class. The culture, knowledge, wealth, and infrastructure are sure to grow and improve in the near future. This combined with its prime location will lead to long-term success for the nation.

 

[Deidara]

Pakistan doesnt have any natural resources except arable land. It needs to utilize this resource fully and become a leading agricultural country in the world. This includes having very high yields and expertise at food processing and food technology.

 

[Asian.Century]

Pakistan 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, seventh largest copper mines, the country is the 11th largest wheat producer, 12th largest rice producer and seventh country of the world with nuclear power.

Two of Pakistan’s major natural resources are at Reko Diq and Thar. Reko Diq is a giant copper and gold project in Chagai district, Balochistan, in a desert area 70 kilometres northwest of Naukundi. Reko Diq is close to Pakistan’s border with Iran and Afghanistan.

According to experts, Reko Diq has proven gold and copper reserves worth US$260 billion and estimated gold and copper reserves worth US$3 trillion. Mineweb.com has stated that Reqo Diq “is believed to be one of the world’s largest reserves of gold and copper.... Reko Diq is believed to contain 12.3 million tonnes of copper and 20.9 million ounces of gold in inferred and indicated resources. Some surveys have suggested that Reko Diq may contain as much as 11 billion pounds of copper and nine million ounces of gold.”

Meanwhile, some experts believe that Reqo Diq also contains rare earth elements. These elements, which are even more precious and in much greater and growing demand than gold, are used in latest high-tech equipment and batteries for all electric cars, etc. It is China that controls 95% of the world’s supply of rare elements.

Thar coal is also a major blessing for the country. According to experts, there is 175 billion tonnes of coal available in Thar, which is equal to 618 billion barrels of crude oil. These experts say Thar coal deposits extend across the border and are currently being mined for power generation in Rajistan state in India. While they were discovered in 1991, for some time, the deposits were ignored as they had low calorific value. On the other hand, Thar Coal is environmentally friendly with a low Sulfur content. Things have now changed. The four ongoing projects of coal-fired power plants in Tharparkar would produce 2,300 megawatts over a period of four to five years. Four companies are executing the coal projects with a total cost of $4.7 billion.

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. What we have should be used with great care.

 

[Asian.Century]

Poor governance, poor governments & poor idiotic third class governments of PPP and PMLN has destroyed Pakistan, this crime has been biggest in Pakistan’s history.

Look at this:

Pakistan 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, seventh largest copper mines, the country is the 11th largest wheat producer, 12th largest rice producer and seventh country of the world with nuclear power.

Two of Pakistan’s major natural resources are at Reko Diq and Thar. Reko Diq is a giant copper and gold project in Chagai district, Balochistan, in a desert area 70 kilometres northwest of Naukundi. Reko Diq is close to Pakistan’s border with Iran and Afghanistan.

According to experts, Reko Diq has proven gold and copper reserves worth US$260 billion and estimated gold and copper reserves worth US$3 trillion. Mineweb.com has stated that Reqo Diq “is believed to be one of the world’s largest reserves of gold and copper.... Reko Diq is believed to contain 12.3 million tonnes of copper and 20.9 million ounces of gold in inferred and indicated resources. Some surveys have suggested that Reko Diq may contain as much as 11 billion pounds of copper and nine million ounces of gold.”

Meanwhile, some experts believe that Reqo Diq also contains rare earth elements. These elements, which are even more precious and in much greater and growing demand than gold, are used in latest high-tech equipment and batteries for all electric cars, etc. It is China that controls 95% of the world’s supply of rare elements.

Thar coal is also a major blessing for the country. According to experts, there is 175 billion tonnes of coal available in Thar, which is equal to 618 billion barrels of crude oil. These experts say Thar coal deposits extend across the border and are currently being mined for power generation in Rajistan state in India. While they were discovered in 1991, for some time, the deposits were ignored as they had low calorific value. On the other hand, Thar Coal is environmentally friendly with a low Sulfur content. Things have now changed. The four ongoing projects of coal-fired power plants in Tharparkar would produce 2,300 megawatts over a period of four to five years. Four companies are executing the coal projects with a total cost of $4.7 billion.

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. What we have should be used with great care.

 

[VCheng]

Pakistan 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.

If many of them are undiscovered, how can the claim that they exist be made?

 

[nahtanbob]

Ever since I was born, I'm hearing Pakistan 'Qudrati zakhair se maal-a-maal hai'.

Just now I was going through the list of top 10 Natural Resource rich nations -- Pakistan was nowhere to be seen.

I've personally had discussions with regards to Thar Coal with some coal importers, most's responses weren't very encouraging to put it briefly. Their responses had something to do with low quality of coal.

Don't have any firsthand knowledge on Balochistan natural reserves. But my point being, who in their right minds wouldn't exploit natural resources, which allegedly, would turn out to be a game-changer for Pakistan?

Please don't feed me the rhetorics of corruption, evil politicians, berooni quwwat and what not. Pakistan, in spite of all the hurdles, turned out to be a nuclear power. Exploiting Natural Resources is a walk in the park when Pakistan's successfully capable of going Nuclear against the will of the likes of The U.S, India.

Avoid one-liners and please be realistic.

Not on a per captia basis

No doubt Pakistan is rich in natural resources and ofcourse money is needed to bring these into uses but its not a big deal.
Big deal is corrupt elite.

it is the lamest excuse i have heard
if you are really rich in natural resources the corrupt elite would find a way to extract these resources and get paid for it

 

[ziaulislam]

There may be resources but it will take more money to extract it from the ground than it is worth.

Afghanistan may have $1 trillion + amount of natural resources but it would take $2 trillion to extract it from the ground. Otherwise all companies would be going ballistic at every natural resource rich nation.

no, it doesnt demend upon cost but risk...there is no grantee that company will not be destroyed trying to do so

recent example of rekodig, a company spend million on feasiblilty an than was kicked out..

 

[Clutch]

Ever since I was born, I'm hearing Pakistan 'Qudrati zakhair se maal-a-maal hai'.

Just now I was going through the list of top 10 Natural Resource rich nations -- Pakistan was nowhere to be seen.

I've personally had discussions with regards to Thar Coal with some coal importers, most's responses weren't very encouraging to put it briefly. Their responses had something to do with low quality of coal.

Don't have any firsthand knowledge on Balochistan natural reserves. But my point being, who in their right minds wouldn't exploit natural resources, which allegedly, would turn out to be a game-changer for Pakistan?

Please don't feed me the rhetorics of corruption, evil politicians, berooni quwwat and what not. Pakistan, in spite of all the hurdles, turned out to be a nuclear power. Exploiting Natural Resources is a walk in the park when Pakistan's successfully capable of going Nuclear against the will of the likes of The U.S, India.

Avoid one-liners and please be realistic.

Just speaking of oil and gas … because I don't really know the facts and figures for other resources...Only 4% of Pakistan's potential areas have been surveyed and explored. That leaves 96% open as potential.

 

[CrazyZ]

6th largest population (people are the most important natural resource)

4th in irrigated land area

9th in shale oil/gas

8th in Hydro power (if fully developed)

7th in Lignite coal

Reko Diq one of largest copper/gold reserves in the world

Large amounts of Iron Ore (most of it may not be economically exploited, although there were large amounts of high quality ores discovered in Chiniot a few years ago)

 

[Dubious]

Ever since I was born, I'm hearing Pakistan 'Qudrati zakhair se maal-a-maal hai'.

Just now I was going through the list of top 10 Natural Resource rich nations -- Pakistan was nowhere to be seen.

I've personally had discussions with regards to Thar Coal with some coal importers, most's responses weren't very encouraging to put it briefly. Their responses had something to do with low quality of coal.

Don't have any firsthand knowledge on Balochistan natural reserves. But my point being, who in their right minds wouldn't exploit natural resources, which allegedly, would turn out to be a game-changer for Pakistan?

Please don't feed me the rhetorics of corruption, evil politicians, berooni quwwat and what not. Pakistan, in spite of all the hurdles, turned out to be a nuclear power. Exploiting Natural Resources is a walk in the park when Pakistan's successfully capable of going Nuclear against the will of the likes of The U.S, India.

Avoid one-liners and please be realistic.

https://defence.pk/pdf/threads/natural-resources-of-pakistan.132941/

https://defence.pk/pdf/threads/pakistan-economy-natural-resources-for-revenue.606116/

 

[ghazi52]

Pakistan is rich of natural resources.

 

[niaz]

For too long we have been living on the “Untruth” that Pakistan is a resource-rich country. This frequently used cliché has brainwashed most of the Pakistanis to believe that we have been sitting on countless wealth and it is only because of the corruption and the greed of the leaders that Pakistan is poor. While Pakistan does have ample natural resources; e.g. Pakistan is midway among the top ten with regards to the out of Cotton, Sugarcane, Pulses & Milk production; these are not sufficient to make Pakistan a ‘Resource Rich’ country.

I have seen posts here giving general details and photos of Pakistan’s natural wealth, but nothing specific such as how much? Most importantly how much is a surplus after meeting the local demand.

To clarify my point: Pakistan has been producing natural gas from Sui gas field from 1952 and we have gas producing areas in Sindh, Punjab as well as in KPK. Even though Pakistan produces approx. 1.4-tcf natural gas per year, this is not sufficient for fulfilling domestic demand. Pakistan needed to import 4.62-million tons in 2017 (222-billion cft) and even that was not enough to resolve the gas shortage.

Let us look at the question with a cool head. According to the internationally accepted standards, the top 10 countries richest in the natural resource are:

China, Saudi Arabia, Canada, India, Russia, Brazil, USA, Venezuela, Dem Rep of Congo and Australia.

“Top 10 Countries with Most Natural Resources in the World 2019”

https://www.worldblaze.in/countries-with-most-natural-resources/

Looking at the metal & mineral resources excluding oil & gas; (These are “Proven” reserves not “Potential” resources); per the latest data the top 15 countries of the world are:

South Africa ( $2,494-billion), Russia ( $1,636-billion), Australia ($1,588-billion), Canada($1,000-billion), Brazil ($726-billion), China ($717-billion), Chile($616-bilion), USA($613-billion), Ukraine ($516-bilion), Peru ($328-billion), India ($296-bilion), Kazakhstan ($292-billion), Mexico($-240-bilion), Indonesia($227-bilion) and Guinea($222-billion)

“Forget Oil: 15 Countries Sitting On A Fortune Of Metals And Minerals”

https://www.businessinsider.com/15-resource-rich-countries-2010-4

On the agriculture side, the top 10 leading food producers of the world are:

China, USA, Brazil, India, Russia, France, Mexico, Japan, Germany & Turkey.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_producing_countries_of_agricultural_commodities

Therefore, as evident from the above, the ground reality is that Pakistan does not appear to be abundantly blessed “Blessed” with great riches in terms of oil or mineral wealth and natural resources.

However, what really matters is the economy. In 1970, most developed economies of the world formed club dubbed as Group of 7 or G-7. The countries were:

USA, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom.

Together, these countries represent more than 62 percent of the global net wealth ($280trillion). Later Russia was added and the group became G-8.

Recently a much larger club called the G-20 has come on the scene. These countries represent the 20 largest economies of the world. The members are:

Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, UK, and the USA. The European Union represented as a unit making the 20th.

Evidently, the lack of natural resources is no cause for despair. Five of the G-7 nations (France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom) are not among the nations with very large reserves of natural wealth. In fact, some European countries such as Holland, Switzerland, Austria and Asian countries like Singapore, South Korea & Taiwan do not have significant reserves of natural resources. But these countries are economically far ahead of many of the resource-rich nations such as Chile, Peru, Kazakhstan, Venezuela, Ukraine, and Congo. Republic of Guinea with $222-bilion reserves of metal & mineral wealth (it is the world's second largest producer of Bauxite, and has rich deposits of Diamonds and Gold) is one of the poorest nations of the world with GDP per Capita of less than $1,000.

In my humble opinion, the most important wealth of any country is her “Human Resource”. What Pakistan needs to do is to improve the quality of her manpower, which can only be achieved through education and training and changing the mindset of “chaloo kaam” or “Jugaar” in slang. This also includes the elimination of corruption, nepotism and encouraging meritocracy.

I have interviewed dozens of Pakistan qualified chemical engineers and can say for certain that sadly the education standards have gone down since the 1960s instead of going up. In my time, people cheated thru copying and sending somebody else to appear in the test but had never heard of the “fake degrees”.

Now, we have Ghost schools and Ghost teachers and our morals & ethics have stooped so low that a large number of the Parliamentarians thought nothing of submitting fake degrees as their qualifications. Can you imagine someone buying a fake MMBS degree and handing out medicines to the naive population? Sadly this is happening in Pakistan.

The right way to progress is by improving educational and technical skills. Our education should inculcate a culture of innovative thinking and analysis instead of passing through memorizing (Rota). We should try to emulate Germany or at least Singapore in education and discipline if we want to succeed in the 21st-century world and forget dreaming about finding enormous wealth through oil, gold or other natural deposits.

Of course, finding and exploiting natural resources would be the added bonus but there is no point in living on wishful thinking alone.

 

[Asian.Century]

Punjab is the bread basket of Pakistan:

Pakistan 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, seventh largest copper mines, the country is the 11th largest wheat producer, 12th largest rice producer and seventh country of the world with nuclear power.

Two of Pakistan’s major natural resources are at Reko Diq and Thar. Reko Diq is a giant copper and gold project in Chagai district, Balochistan, in a desert area 70 kilometres northwest of Naukundi. Reko Diq is close to Pakistan’s border with Iran and Afghanistan.

According to experts, Reko Diq has proven gold and copper reserves worth US$260 billion and estimated gold and copper reserves worth US$3 trillion. Mineweb.com has stated that Reqo Diq “is believed to be one of the world’s largest reserves of gold and copper.... Reko Diq is believed to contain 12.3 million tonnes of copper and 20.9 million ounces of gold in inferred and indicated resources. Some surveys have suggested that Reko Diq may contain as much as 11 billion pounds of copper and nine million ounces of gold.”

Meanwhile, some experts believe that Reqo Diq also contains rare earth elements. These elements, which are even more precious and in much greater and growing demand than gold, are used in latest high-tech equipment and batteries for all electric cars, etc. It is China that controls 95% of the world’s supply of rare elements.

Thar coal is also a major blessing for the country. According to experts, there is 175 billion tonnes of coal available in Thar, which is equal to 618 billion barrels of crude oil. These experts say Thar coal deposits extend across the border and are currently being mined for power generation in Rajistan state in India. While they were discovered in 1991, for some time, the deposits were ignored as they had low calorific value. On the other hand, Thar Coal is environmentally friendly with a low Sulfur content. Things have now changed. The four ongoing projects of coal-fired power plants in Tharparkar would produce 2,300 megawatts over a period of four to five years. Four companies are executing the coal projects with a total cost of $4.7 billion.

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. What we have should be used with great care.

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