PM says Pakistan will process minerals at home before export

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said his government will try to stop exporting minerals in raw form and process and manufacture them inside Pakistan before shipment, calling the shift difficult but one he is committed to. He was speaking at the Pakistan Minerals Investment Forum 2026, where he said the country's mineral wealth should supply domestic industry rather than leave the country untreated.

He said the Reko Diq copper and gold project, stalled for two decades, is moving towards the operational phase, and described it as one of the world's largest undeveloped deposits of the two metals. Its success, he said, would set the standard for later mineral investment in Pakistan.

The prime minister thanked Barrick Mining Corporation for maintaining its confidence in Pakistan. He met a delegation led by the company's chairman, John Thornton, and said Balochistan, which he described as rich in natural resources, could use them to develop the province, raise incomes and add jobs.

He said the government wants the people of Balochistan to share directly in the benefits of mining projects, with employment and skills training for local young people and development of the surrounding areas. Investors would be offered equal opportunities and continuity in policy, he added.

Licences and agreements would be issued with full transparency and procedures simplified, he told the forum. A National Mineral Data Centre and the digitisation of geological records are intended to give investors verified information, and the government would work as one team to protect their interests, he said.

He cited a Goldman Sachs forecast that Pakistan could become the world's sixth largest economy by 2075, and said he expected the country to join the ranks of large economies before 2050. He credited the field marshal and his team with making the minerals agenda a central part of the national economic vision.

The Barrick delegation called the holding of the conference an important step for mineral development in Pakistan and expressed deep interest in investing in mineral processing plants in Karachi and Gwadar, according to the account of the meeting. Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, federal ministers Muhammad Aurangzeb and Ali Pervaiz Malik, special assistants Tariq Fatemi and Lt Gen (retired) Muhammad Zafar Iqbal, and senior officials attended.

Express News reported that Dar said Pakistan is rich in mineral resources and that global investors would be provided every facility.