Gems and Minerals How to promote into National and International Market. A hidden treasure awaits exploration. Nature has endowed Pakistan with a vast potential of mineral ores, including a diverse range of precious and semi-precious gemstones, which need the government’s, especially investors’, attention in order to be fully exploited.
Gems and Minerals Found in Pakistan
Which type of mineral and Gemstone Found in Pakistan. Minerals such as peridot, aquamarine, and topaz in a variety of colors such as violet, pink, golden, and champagne, Ruby, Emerald rare earth minerals, Bastnaesite and Xenotime, Sphene, Tourmaline, and several kinds of Quartz make the country stand out in the mineral world.
Three world-famous mountain ranges, the Hindukush Himalaya and Karakorum, encircle Pakistan’s northern and northwestern regions, from where virtually all the minerals that Pakistan currently offers to the world market have been discovered.
Despite the fact that the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources regularly offers investment opportunities in the mineral industry, it has been unable to make substantial progress for various reasons.
According to official documents, seven precious semiprecious stones and mineral specimens were intermittently mined and sold around the world out of a total of 25.
Precious and semi-precious stone found in Pakistan
Gems and Minerals they are Emerald of Swat Rubies of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and Hunza Ishkoman, Gilgit, Pink Topaz of Katlang, Mardan, Aquamarine and Tourmaline of Shigar, Roundo , Haramosh,Nager and Diamer Chilas, Peridot of Kohistan, and Pargasite of Hunza.
Inviting investors, they mentioned that there was enormous scope for investment in scientific digging, cutting, and polishing for value addition of gemstone from established localities, as well as exploration for new discoveries.
The Ruby of Kashmir and Hunza was described as transparent to translucent, brownish pink to pinkish-red, and deep red in color, according to the sources.
They added that the deposit is being exploited and that the potential supplies are expected to be about 24.9 million grams me. Hunza rubies have a faint pinkish tint to them. The largest ruby deposits are found in a dolomite marble belt that runs from Hunza valley to Ishkoman, close to the Karakorum thrust. For gem lovers, Topaz of Mardan and Dassu Skardu pink to red and colorless have their own appeal. Mingora, Malakand Division, 160 kilometres northeast of Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, is home to the best-known Emerald deposits.
The Swat deposits are producing outstanding quality diamonds, including some of the world’s finest emeralds. The stones are known for their brilliance, medium to deep green color, and unusual clarity, according to the source, who also mentioned that emeralds have been found in the belt at Gujar Kili and Shamozai.Gem grade tourmaline was discovered in the Kohistan magmatic arc Zone 6 at Haraosh near Gilgit, Stak Nala between Gilgit and Skardu, Bulecli and Shingus in Gilgit division, and Garm Chashma in Chitral, according to the study.Haraosh tourmaline comes in pink, brown, and green colors, while the Stak Nala is now known for bicolor and tricolor tourmaline. They also said that gem-grade tourmaline can be found at Buleclhi and Shingus Gilgit and that Indicolite (blue tourmaline) was discovered in the Garm Chashma pegmatite (Chitral).Green tourmaline has also been discovered in the Donga Nar pegmatite in Azad Kashmir. Peridot of the Indus Kohistan is one of Pakistan’s most beautiful gemstones, and it is mined sporadically in various locations. According to sources, it has already seized market share both domestically and internationally.
Despite the participation of relevant bodies such as the Pakistan Trade Development Authority, the Pakistan Commercial Exporter Association, and the Pakistan Mineral Development Corporation, as well as the hosting of annual gems and stones exhibitions at various levels, no substantial progress is being made to explore the gemstone sector’s untapped potential.
How to Promote Gem and Minerals Sector in Pakistan
The government should perform surveys in prospective areas in partnership with credible institutes in order to lure international investors in this field who can substantially add to the national coffers.
According to a survey, it is mainly non-professional inhabitants of mining areas who mine these earth’s gems in their dangerous and conventional ways.
They typically form groups and begin drilling and blasting in possible areas for precious and semi-precious stones, causing damage to the condition and quantity of the jewels. Pakistan, with its mineral riches, has the ability to become a center of the gemstone industry on a scale comparable to Brazil by taking a few key steps to improve resource discovery and the development of the gemstone industry.
Gilgit Baltistan, an ethnically mixed high-altitude territory with a complicated political past, remains largely independent of Pakistan’s central state apparatus. In these remarkable landscapes, where indigenous peoples administer the territory as a “State by proxy,” informal gemstone mining contributes significantly to livelihoods. This article demonstrates that gemstone mining in Gilgit Baltistan is governed by customary rules and regulations founded on mutual obligation and that members adhere to customary authority because they are not foreign to the group. It argues that the whole concept of centralized “governance” of natural wealth, which is often touted as the panacea in resource exploitation contexts, must be reconsidered in light of the context’s particularities. It makes use of the principle of governability to emphasize that it is not always feasible to administer informal mining in the traditional context. Likewise, it concludes by arguing that informal mining, which has a long tradition in Pakistan and has grown in importance as a source of rural jobs and revenue, should be accommodated within the mining legal structure. More specifically, in order to regulate informal gemstone mining, the first step will be to examine how things are actually handled, to learn and value customary rules, and to draw on them in order to integrate their features into structures that recognize collective rights and a more equal distribution of benefits.