ISLAMABAD: Around Rs. 500 million
value of gemstones are extracted annually from Gilgit-Baltistan and efforts are
underway to explore other precious minerals.
It has been confirmed that nearly
all valleys in Gilgit-Baltistan are shedding gold and base metals but the need
is investment to explore them in order to change fate of the area.
As per surveys conducted for gold
and base metals carried by Pakistan Mineral Development Corporation (PMDC) and
on the basis of Geo-chemical and hard rock samples, around 11 prospect areas
confirmed gold value ranging from 0.10 to 24 Parts Per Million (PPM) in hard
rock while 5 PPM gold is economical in the world, Tourism and Mineral
Department official in GB told APP here Sunday.
The official said a total number
of 3947 geo-chemical stream sediment samples were collected from less then one
sqkm to 250 sqkm, covering 45,500 sqkm gold anomalies alone counted over 100,
ranging in content from 5 PPM to 300 PPM. Around 500 samples were collected
from hard rock including river floats and out crops.
A total of 50 samples pertaining
to 10 areas conform gold values ranging from 0.10 ppm to 24.0 ppm according to
laboratory reports, the official said and added the gold washers still recover
gold from placer deposits of Gilgit-Baltistan.
The area is also rich with white
colour Marble deposits of Shigar (Skardu), Nasirabad (Hunza) and Gupis (Ghizer)
which are considered to be of international standard.
The other gemstones which are
extracted from the area include Ruby, Emerald, Sapphire, Aquamarine,
Tourmaline, Garnet, Fluorite, Pargasite, Spinal, Zircon, Topaz, Berylspar,
Corundum, Marganite, Serpentine, Sulpher, Moonstone, Amethyst.
The official said local
administration was taking a major policy initiative to expand mineral sector of
Gilgit-Baltistan and also encouraging local as well foreign investment in the
sector.
Accordingly, many exploration
licenses and mining leases have been granted to national and foreign investors
and more applications for licenses are under process.
