January 31, 2008	Thursday	Muharram 21, 1429

PESHAWAR, Jan 30: Excavation work at mines has been suspended in several parts of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas due to the law and order situation there.

An official in the Fata Development Authority told Dawn that different mines had been leased out to the private sector to explore marble, coal and other minerals in Bajaur, Mohmand, Kurram and Frontier Region of Darra Adamkhel. But mining activities, he said, had come to a standstill because of lawlessness in the area. He said mining of marble and coal was in progress only in parts of Mohmand and Orakzai agencies.

The authorities had leased out mines of coal, soapstone, manganese and marble to several private parties in different areas of the tribal region. The private parties have suspended their activities for a few months because of the growing militancy and tribal disputes.

The law and order situation has affected export of minerals from the tribal area. Export of coal, marble and soapstone from the region has decreased from 280,000 to 170,000 tons per month.

The official said employees appointed on contract to look after mining and exploration activities in the region were supposed to be there, but they could not come to the area due to the worsening law and order situation.

“The security situation in the region is not only hampering investment but also affecting the government’s revenue target,” he said. Export duty is charged on minerals and Rs70 million are generated in this head annually.

Apart from local investors, the Fata Development Authority also signed a memorandum of understanding with the Pakistan Mineral Development Corporation and foreign investors last year. The corporation had planned to explore oil and gas deposits in North Waziristan, Frontier Region of Bannu and parts of South Waziristan.

Officials said investors from European countries and the United States had expressed willingness to invest in the mineral sector in the tribal region but the security situation was hampering investment.

The government had awarded a license to a multinational company in 2006 for survey over an area of 1,340 square kilometers in North Waziristan and Frontier Region of Bannu for exploration oil and gas. The agreement involved over $20 million investment, but the work could not be initiated.

Geologists have detected 7,000 tons of marble, eight million tons of coal, 537,000 million tons of silica sand, 3.6 million tons of soapstone, 20,000 million tons of gypsum and massive reserves of limestone in different areas of Fata.

The officials said exploration of soapstone and coal in central and upper Kurram region had been suspended for three months owing to recent clashes in the area.