Dr. Farooq Adil (Expert): There is no doubt that minerals have a lot of potential in Pakistan’s economy. We need resources and technology to successfully launch mining and exploration activities. There have been successful mining and exploration activities in many parts of the country. The exploration of gas and oil in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has given fruitful results. However, still there are many valuable metals that can be explored.

Dr. Gulfaraz Ahmed (Energy Expert): As far as the mineral potential of Pakistan is concerned, it is largely untapped in many areas. The government has to take practical steps to identify and explore various minerals and metals hidden in earth. Pakistan’s Balochistan and Punjab provinces are endowed with various minerals and metals. Apart from hydro carbon reserves, the country has rich deposits of gold, iron, copper and rare earth metals. Foreign investment into this sector will help accelerating the exploration and mining activities and create lot of employment opportunities for local population. It will also increase the share of this sector in gross domestic product and help earning valuable foreign exchange after exports.