(June 19, 2020)
President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum and All Karachi Industrial Alliance, FPCCI’s Businessmen Panel Sr. Vice Chairman, and former provincial minister Mian Zahid Hussain on Friday said a massive quantity of iron ore is available in Sindh which should be exploited.
He said that Pakistan has vast natural resources which are awaiting exploitation while iron ore is available in Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa but we are spending over three billion dollars to import iron and steel.
Talking to the business community, the veteran business leader said large quantity or iron and steel is also smuggled into Pakistan from Iran and Afghanistan which can be stopped.
The former minister noted raw minerals are being exported to other countries which are sold at high prices by adding value to it as the business community is not inclined towards value addition.
He said that a stone known as yellow marble is available in Thatta, Sindh which is exported in raw form to China which can fetch good income if processed locally.
Recently, huge quantity of iron ore deposits have been found some 400 km away from Pakistan Steel Mills which can be utilized locally and exported to China which is importing almost one billion tonnes of iron on an annual basis.
He noted that the ratio of locally produced iron could not jump beyond two or three percent while whole demand was met through imports when Pakistan Steel Mills was working.
PSM can produce around one million tonnes of iron and steel while the local demands stand at eight million tonnes, therefore, eight steel mills will be needed to stop imports to save foreign exchange and provide employment to thousands, he said.
He said that once Australia was a poor country which climbed the ladder of success through its mineral deposits.
