ISLAMABAD (The Thursday Times) — Pakistan opens its two-day Pakistan Minerals Investment Forum in Islamabad on Thursday, with global mining executives and foreign government delegations expected at the Jinnah Convention Centre as the government pitches the country’s largely untapped mineral wealth to investors.
The forum, organised by the government and endorsed by the Special Investment Facilitation Council, with Oil and Gas Development Company Limited as its founding partner, runs on November 12 and 13 under the theme “Pakistan: The Next Critical Minerals Destination”.
Who is coming
Barrick Mining Corporation chairman John L. Thornton and Ivanhoe Mines founder Robert Friedland are among the international executives expected to attend. Türkiye’s deputy energy minister, Ahmet Berat Çonkar, is due to lead his country’s delegation, and Azerbaijan, Morocco, and China are also sending senior officials. The Asian Development Bank, the World Bank Group, and the United Nations Development Programme are on the participants’ list, and Canada has a dedicated pavilion at the exhibition.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, and Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar are among the scheduled speakers, along with the ministers for finance, petroleum, and commerce. A dialogue of chief ministers is planned for the opening day.
The pitch
Pakistan has 92 known minerals, 52 of them commercially exploited, and estimated reserves worth around $8 trillion, yet mining contributes less than 3% of gross domestic product, according to figures from the Institute of Cost and Management Accountants of Pakistan.
Last year’s forum drew around 5,000 delegates from more than 50 countries and ended with 16 memorandums of understanding. What this year’s edition has to show beyond more signatures is the question hanging over it.
The centrepiece is the Reko Diq copper and gold project in Balochistan’s Chagai district, owned 50% by Barrick, 25% by the Balochistan government, and 25% by three federal state companies. Barrick’s updated feasibility study puts the investment at $8.83 billion over a 37-year mine life, with first production targeted for the end of 2028, though sources have said that could slip. Its financing includes $410 million from the Asian Development Bank and $1.25 billion approved by the US Export-Import Bank.
Provinces are making their own pitches alongside the forum. Sindh this week offered investors Thar coal, granite, and iron ore, and Saudi investors have shown interest in Balochistan’s minerals.
