‘Huge’ reserves of iron ore discovered in Chiniot (Punjab)

[Runner Up]

CHINIOT: The government on Wednesday said it has discovered major reserves of iron ore as well as copper, silver and gold in Punjab.

The reserves were found in Chiniot city, around 160 kilometres (around 100 miles) northwest of Lahore, by Chinese group the Metallurgical Cooperation of China.

A senior provincial administrative official told AFP that initial estimates indicated 500 million tons of iron ore – a primary ingredient in steelmaking – had been discovered.

He said the Chinese company has expressed interest in setting up a steel mill on the site, adding that the extracted iron had been tested in Swiss and Canadian laboratories, which found 60-65 percent of it to be high grade.

The official added that silver, copper and gold samples would also be sent for testing soon.

PM Nawaz greets nation

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif greeted the nation on the discovery of good quality copper iron and gold deposits hoping the same would go a long way in bringing prosperity to the country, APP added.

Speaking at the site on Wednesday, he said the discovery could help Pakistan´s stuttering economy turn a corner and end its "begging bowl" culture.

Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif, Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid Provincial Minister for Minerals Sher Ali, parliamentarians, representatives of Chinese Metallurgical Corporation and German consultants attended the event.

"It is Allah´s blessing that under the lush green fields rich deposits of copper, iron and gold have been found, which will help the country get rid of the ´begging bowl´ for good," Sharif said.

Conflict, instability, corruption and a chronic energy shortage have hampered Pakistan´s economy for years.

The IMF granted a $6.6-billion loan to Pakistan in September 2013 on the condition that it carry out extensive economic reforms, particularly in the energy and taxation sectors.

Link

 

[Buffet]

If I am right then Pakistan has other unharvested iron deposits. I am not sure how this new deposit will solve economic problems faced by Pakistan.

 

[AlCapone]

If I am right then Pakistan has other unharvested iron deposits. I am not sure how this new deposit will solve economic problems faced by Pakistan.

it'll solve it for Punjab, the other resources are in other provinces and it should benefit the natives first

 

[Buffet]

it'll solve it for Punjab, the other resources are in other provinces and it should benefit the natives first

Pakistan was not using current deposit available right now properly. That's the impression I got while reading some report earlier.

May be I am not getting the scale of this deposit and that's why my comment. Do you know a rough range of dollar value this deposit will translate to? If scale is really a huge one then it will transform steel and all related industries as long as it gets developed properly. Right now iron ores are facing huge downward pressure and available cheaply but goal should be anyway to not simply export ores.

 

[Nostalgic]

View attachment 54072

CAPTION TIME!

Showbaz: ... and this here is the standard-issue iron-age Gullu Butt danda, circa 1213 B.C.
Noora: The fine print says "Made in China"

 

[Buffet]

If my calculations are right then 500M metric ton initial estimate will put entire value around 35B once iron ore is outside at current market price. I will say that this reserve is significantly large considering GDP of Pakistan. It will be huge boost to economy if value added product are made rather than simply exporting ores.

 

[Saeed]

More money for N-League to loot. We all know Pakistan is not getting to get benefit from this. Why did he announced this anyway? Now some western nation might want to invade Pakistan.

 

[Watsupdoc]

Allah has blessed our nation so many natural resources. It boggles your mind how come we are still in such a crisis. It's true the state of a nation is reflected by its leader...

 

[Buffet]

More money for N-League to loot. We all know Pakistan is not getting to get benefit from this. Why did he announced this anyway? Now some western nation might want to invade Pakistan.

A Chinese company has expressed interest. Quite possible that China may get involved to develop it.

 

[Saeed]

A Chinese company has expressed interest. Quite possible that China may get involved to develop it.

So they will also reap the benefits? I wonder if Chinese will bring their own workers to work in Pakistan or Pakistan will gain more jobs cause of this. China have also decided to get involved Afghanistan http://www.wsj.com/articles/as-u-s-exits-china-takes-on-afghanistan-role-1423539002 and probably not a good news for India.

 

[Buffet]

So they will also reap the benefits? I wonder if Chinese will bring their own workers to work in Pakistan or Pakistan will gain more jobs cause of this. China have also decided to get involved Afghanistan http://www.wsj.com/articles/as-u-s-exits-china-takes-on-afghanistan-role-1423539002 and probably not a good news for India.

Chinese normally bring their own workers a lot more than western countries but I recon any kind of development will create jobs for Pakistanis as well. Goal should be to develop it.

About Afghanistan, it's a good thing if Afghanistan can use India, China and some other countries as well. Afghanistan should try to get more countries competing for the projects and that will help them to get better terms. But first, security situation needs to get better to attract more countries. Till then, it will be countries like India, China etc who are mixing economic prospect with strategic line of thinking.

 

[PetroDollars]

The key is written in the article itself

initial estimates indicated 500 million tons of iron ore – a primary ingredient in steelmaking – had been discovered.

)))

 

[godzilla]

You can't look directly at market value, firstly I would presume only a fraction of the reserves can actually be extracted and secondly you have to take into account the cost of extraction. Finally and crucially, the press should be all over this in terms of the contract terms - how much have they given away to the Chinese compared to other standard international mining contracts, what kickbacks were involved, which Pakistani companies are involved if not the government directly?

 

[Couch Cricketer]

If my calculations are right then 500M metric ton initial estimate will put entire value around 35B once iron ore is outside at current market price. I will say that this reserve is significantly large considering GDP of Pakistan. It will be huge boost to economy if value added product are made rather than simply exporting ores.

We import a billions of dollars worth of Iron ore and steel etc. Producing enough to meet our needs would save a lot of foreign exchange let alone the money that will come from exports. Anyway iron ore prices are 1/3 of what they were 2-3 years ago. They could be worth a lot more by the time we actually get around to mining it.

 

[cricketjoshila]

First of all the question is how much is the Iron content in the ore?Secondly how much can be extracted?Iron Ore market is currently depressed around the world so dont know who is going to sink in money in near future to open new mines when production has been cut down in older mines which have proven reserves of high quality.Similar claims regarding coal and gold were made by Pakistan earlier,dont know what happened to it.

 

[CricketCartoons]

I doubt it is going to help ordinary Pakistanis. When natural gas is found in India by Ambanis, they sell it to the country at the international market rate. There will only be breadcrumb benefits of some locals getting jobs, but the real benefit of national resources goes to the crony capitalists.

 

[DW44]

500 million tons is not huge. Most major producers of the stuff produce more than that in two years. It's enough(ish) for Pakistan's immediate short term needs but no more than that. Potential long term impact on Pakistan's economy will be pretty minimal due to the low quantity and the size of Pakistan's population(big factor when assessing the impact of commodity production on economic indicators, the reason UAE/Saudi are better off than Brazil or Russia).

 

[Laparwah]

Great! The Sharif brothers bank balance will swell even further. Zardari already looking forward to "winning" the next election then taking his share.

 

[Saeed]

CAPTION TIME!

Showbaz: ... and this here is the standard-issue iron-age Gullu Butt danda, circa 1213 B.C.
Noora: The fine print says "Made in China"

lol, your captions deserve a thread of their own.

 

[Nostalgic]

lol, your captions deserve a thread of their own.

I've been thinking along the same lines. Collect the Tariq Jameel ones and a few others into a consolidated thread. For now though, here's another:

Showbaz: ... larger sweet spot, thick edges, long handle, Kashmiri willow-Chinioti steel blend. It's a beautiful bat.
Noora: If only I had used this balla during my first-class debut for Railways, my career would've lasted longer than one match

 

[saadibaba]

Shahbaz: Mian sb, ye iron da danda tusi ghar le jao. Ye bhabhi no roti pakan waste bela da kaam karnda he.
Nawaz: Oye Shahbaz, teno aqal kab aye gi. Bhabhi is dande no koi aur kaam na leween tu apni chutti hi hojaye.

 

[Badsha]

More money for the shariffs.

 

[Nostalgic]

Shahbaz: Mian sb, ye iron da danda tusi ghar le jao. Ye bhabhi no roti pakan waste bela da kaam karnda he.
Nawaz: Oye Shahbaz, teno aqal kab aye gi. Bhabhi is dande no koi aur kaam na leween tu apni chutti hi hojaye.

I was studiously trying to avoid bringing up said usage of the danda.

 

[Mian]

What a scam! They fooled nation for years on these reserves and now saying it was a scam and we saved the nation?