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Pakistan needs to focus on mining silicon

FuturePAF

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A lot of money is poured into research the presence of minerals, but reports seem to come in here and there, and nothing seems to become of it.

IMHO, silicon has been found in Pakistan and in potentially significant quantities. Pakistan’s policy makers need to formulate a plan to modernize the mining sector and do joint ventures to acquire the capital and technology to extract and process the resources of the nation, as well as use the funds to modernize the rail network to bring these resources to processing facilities and then those products to our ports.

The uses of silicon are increasing, especially in batteries, a key technology as the world looks to move away from fossil fuels and into renewables and EV technology.

Furthermore, gulf investors also want to orient their investments in Pakistan to consumer tech, so silicon mining and processing to make solar panels for the domestic (and potentially export market) could interest them as local and international demand is still high.

Sure silicon is abundant in the world, but with the percentage of silicon in the quartz, quality of silicon in Pakistan, the low labor cost, and the large consumer market, these are all strengths to leverage our domestic needs to build an export oriented industry. Also the global demand is so large, and our reserves so large (175 million tons) that even capture a small part of this market and producing 2 million tons a year, will mean we will have resources to utilize till at least the end of the century.


 
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Time to invoke @ssethii, the expert among all Pakistani experts in all things silicon-based computing.

Rise, Sethi, rise.
 
A lot of money is poured into research the presence of minerals, but reports seem to come in here and there, and nothing seems to become of it.

IMHO, silicon has been found in Pakistan and in potentially significant quantities. Pakistan’s policy makers need to formulate a plan to modernize the mining sector and do joint ventures to acquire the capital and technology to extract and process the resources of the nation, as well as use the funds to modernize the rail network to bring these resources to processing facilities and then those products to our ports.

The uses of silicon are increasing, especially in batteries, a key technology as the world looks to move away from fossil fuels and into renewables and EV technology.

Furthermore, gulf investors also want to orient their investments in Pakistan to consumer tech, so silicon mining and processing to make solar panels for the domestic (and potentially export market) could interest them as local and international demand is still high.

Sure silicon is abundant in the world, but with the percentage of silicon in the quartz, quality of silicon in Pakistan, the low labor cost, and the large consumer market, these are all strengths to leverage our domestic needs to build an export oriented industry. Also the global demand is so large, and our reserves so large (175 million tons) that even capture a small part of this market and producing 2 million tons a year, will mean we will have resources to utilize till at least the end of the century.


We get quite similar YouTube suggestions, I see. It would be quite beneficial if Pak starts exporting similar raw material to China.

We just dont dig.
This is why we the current political & economical crises at the moment. Sabotage & controlled implosion.
 
Man..! You can make cars from iron, building from steel, power from coal, carbon fibre from coal, planes from aluminium, etc. and ICs from silicone.. but having raw material is not the end. The faculties required to do that are not here as simple as clean room for doping. A country requires a great deal of money and skilled people besides researchers.

Heck, we cannot increase wheat/rice/lentil yield or milk yield from domestic animals or good quality consumer products from agricultural ones such as cereals, oils, chocolates, beverages, etc.

You know Pakistan is the 5th largest producer of apricot. GB alone is the 6th in the world. Still, we import dried apricot from Turkey etc, as we cannot dry our own crops. It gets wasted like tomatoes. I mean, how hard is it to preserve tomatoes in the form of puree, paste, dried form, etc.

 
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Man..! You cna make cars from iron, building from steel, power from coal, carbon fibre from coal, planes from aluminium, etc. and ICs from Silicone.. but the faculties required to do that is not here. A country requires a great deal of money and skilled people besides research.

Heck, we cannot increase wheat/rice/lentil yield or milk yield from domestic animals. Or good quality consumer products from agricultural one.

You know Pakistan is the 5th largest producer of apricot. GB alon is the 6th. Still we import dried apricot from Turkey etc as we cannot dry our own crops. it gets wasted. The same goes to tomatoes.

It’s the mindset that’s needs to change. I’m sorry to say but you need to beat or kill into them, in the society. It’s every man for himself. Their petty and sleazy corruption has hurt Pakistan over and over again.

Pakistanis are literal crabs in a bucket. They will cut their own down just to stay relevant or be the bigger brown sahib mental slave.

They have literally kill their own just to see who can the bidding of their foreign masters. Zia kills Bhutto, Bhuttos daughter kills Zia, daughter then gets killed by Zia proteges. Nawaz Sharif bombs Imran Khans hospital (someone posted a link).

I didn’t even bring up all the murders these guys have committed pre 1971.

How many folks continually die in mysterious plane crashes? I’m telling you, these haramkhors are ready to sell themselves to the lowest bidder. It’s no wonder that LGBT/vile liberal atheist culture is running amok in Pakistans cities. Anything goes …


Mental slaves deserve to be shot and buried in a mass unknown graves.
 
And avoid the Turkish company, whose I forgot name, drama !
 
We get quite similar YouTube suggestions, I see. It would be quite beneficial if Pak starts exporting similar raw material to China.


This is why we the current political & economical crises at the moment. Sabotage & controlled implosion.
Why export to China. We should be finding a way to use this resource to attract Chinese companies to build processing facilities and factories to produce batteries and solar panels in Pakistan. We have large domestic need, if we are to get off imported fuel as much as possible, as well as hope to export something to earn dollars.

Solar panels are getting cheaper and cheaper every year, but labor costs keep going up in China. If Pakistan can get CPEC phase 2 back on track, industrialization, agricultural modernization, and shifting labor intensive industries from China to Pakistan, a lot can be done in a relatively short period of time with the right ToT.


Two more benefits are local employment in value added high tech jobs for the youth around the country, which helps social harmony. Secondly, the transportation of these goods will benefit from profits invested into freight infrastructure such as the railways and warehouses that are efficient and well managed; large and small dry ports all around the country. Faculties that can lower the cost of other industries doing business such as real automobile manufacturing inland, in Punjab and KPK, making industrialization at scale more cost effective.

If Pakistan can leverage all of these initiatives to attract a joint venture with EV and Hybrid manufacturers, we could really move away from imported fuels for the modest needs of the majority of the population. This would allow people to spend less on food, transportation, etc. and allow more into human capital development for themselves and their children.

Thats what I've been saying, we have oil, silicon, lithuium and rare earth metals here. We just dont dig.
We need to start digging. It’s a way to employ lots of people at the very least and make Pakistan relevant in more industries, allowing our people to live up the value added chain.




P.s. If Pakistan builds out modern agricultural faculties such as proper storage and the rail infrastructure between Karachi and Gwadar, it can bring more fresh products to the gulf market than the Indians. One example is eggs. From Gwadar to Oman or the UAE is a lot shorter than the distance from Mumbai.

If the gulf countries really build out the gulf railway, then fast freight ships between Gwadar and Oman could make it worthwhile for investors to really help modernize the agricultural sector in pakistan with an eye to export to the Gulf market.

 
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A lot of money is poured into research the presence of minerals, but reports seem to come in here and there, and nothing seems to become of it.

IMHO, silicon has been found in Pakistan and in potentially significant quantities. Pakistan’s policy makers need to formulate a plan to modernize the mining sector and do joint ventures to acquire the capital and technology to extract and process the resources of the nation, as well as use the funds to modernize the rail network to bring these resources to processing facilities and then those products to our ports.

The uses of silicon are increasing, especially in batteries, a key technology as the world looks to move away from fossil fuels and into renewables and EV technology.

Furthermore, gulf investors also want to orient their investments in Pakistan to consumer tech, so silicon mining and processing to make solar panels for the domestic (and potentially export market) could interest them as local and international demand is still high.

Sure silicon is abundant in the world, but with the percentage of silicon in the quartz, quality of silicon in Pakistan, the low labor cost, and the large consumer market, these are all strengths to leverage our domestic needs to build an export oriented industry. Also the global demand is so large, and our reserves so large (175 million tons) that even capture a small part of this market and producing 2 million tons a year, will mean we will have resources to utilize till at least the end of the century.


yes, silicon is used in electronics. and yes its utility is known to everyone. but not the govt.

why?

because the govt is run by idiots, both the politicians and the civil service are inept. what can you expect from a country where its ministry of science is the most pathetic one. and is awarded as a punishment or to a backbencher? where ba/bcom pass babus are posted as secretaries and not PhD doctors. it has a scientific wing, and an electronics wing. all of them are hired on regular basis from grade 18, they may be only bsc physics but are considered qualified for an advisory role somehow. have not worked a day in their lives in research or industry and are only pencil pushers.
 
Silicon and rare earths are by no means rare. But processing them is very polluting and energy intensive. Not sure that they are game changers by any means. Energy and capital starved countries like IND and PAK maybe best advised to focus on downstream processing, IT related services etc

Regards
 
There Was A Time When Pakistan Exported Silicon
 

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