Observer Report
Islamabad
The Petroleum Division has got approval from the Economic Coordination Committee of the Cabinet for setting up a new public sector company aimed at accelerating minerals’ exploration activities in the Balochistan province, which possesses a variety of valuable mineral resources.
“The new entity titled ‘Balochistan Mineral Exploration Company Limited (BMEC)‘ will be a joint venture of the Federal and Balochistan governments with 10 percent and 90 percent shares respectively,” a senior official privy to the petroleum sector developments told APP Sunday.
Highlighting the company prospects, he said a part of continental-scale Tethyan Copper Belt was located in Chagai District that had tremendous economic mineral potential as “a number of promising ore deposits including of copper (along with associated gold and silver), iron, lead and zinc have already been discovered.”
The official said occurrences of copper and lead-zinc were under commercial exploitation near Saindak (Chagai District) and Duddar (Lasbela District) and world-class copper ore deposits had been found at Reko-Diq (Chagai).
As per the constitutional provisions, minerals other than mineral oil, natural gas and nuclear substances was a provincial subject. The provincial government is responsible for regulation of minerals’ exploration and production activities and grant of mineral titles for these operations. While, the federal government is mandated with a facilitation role like geological surveys, formulation of policy and coordination for minerals sector at national and international levels.
The official said the BMEC had been formed after detailed deliberations by a committee, which was headed by the Chief Minister Balochistan and consisted of representatives from the Finance Division, Attorney General’s Office and Petroleum Division.
