KARACHI: One of the major factors that have contributed tremendously towards making Pakistan economically weak is the failure of successive governments to explore mineral wealth and indigenous means for power generation.

Though the food and energy crises prevail throughout the world as oil prices continue to soar, developing countries like Pakistan are worst hit solely due to lack of proper planning and management on part of the authorities concerned.

Dr Philip C. Goodell, an expert in geological sciences and an associate professor at the University of Texas, El Paso, who spoke to Dawn during his recent visit to Karachi, believes that Pakistan has a strong potential for mineral development. A number of options, both short and long-term, are available here to tackle the energy crisis as the country possesses renewable and non-renewable energy resources in abundance, he adds.

“Pakistan has great mineral wealth. But, there is nothing much happening here. I believe that maybe the laws are too restrictive to explore mining resources,” he observes.

With his interests in geo-chemistry, especially in the areas of semi-metal and sulfosalt, economic geology and mineralogy, Dr Goodell has been to several developing countries, including Egypt, Peru, China, Argentina and Mexico, and has worked on various projects. Sharing his observations, he discloses that all these countries wanted to develop their mineral resources and have succeeded in doing so after introducing certain amendments to their respective mining laws.

“Besides solar energy, you also have the option of setting up solar ponds and generating electricity from them. The huge salt reserves in Pakistan can be used for generating electricity, which can be transported to different places, including Karachi. The technology of generating electricity from salt ponds is proven and the infrastructure can easily be set up near a salt mine.”

Along with his colleagues, the expert researched on these lines and set up a plant that ran for 20 years. However, he says, money for the project dried up ultimately because of the lower oil prices in those days and no further investigation could be carried out.

He points out that the method of salinity gradient solar ponds is not only efficient for power generation but also helps desalinate water and produces medium-grade industrial heat.

Weighing the different short and long-term options to tackle the energy crisis in Pakistan, he says the country also has sustainable uranium and coal reserves that can be used for power generation, though construction of the required infrastructure may take many years.

“Electricity from uranium is cheaper than oil and coal, but its infrastructure incurs a lot of cost, mainly due to the requirement of safe disposal of waste. A power generating coal plant takes five years for completion while a uranium plant requires almost 10 years. The salt plant, however, completes in one year,” he stresses.About the reliability of a nuclear plant and the safe disposal of nuclear waste, he says, “A nuclear plant never explodes. There is a danger of radioactive contamination and the disposal of nuclear waste, which is not actually waste since 90 per cent of the energy is still there. After much debate and seeing what France has done, the US is also setting up three nuclear reprocessing plants,” the expert points out, suggesting that instead of opting for an independent reprocessing plant, two or three countries can jointly set up a reprocessing plant to save costs.

However, he makes it clear that there are different types of uranium and only one type can be turned into energy.

He says another option for electricity generation can be thorium – an alternative nuclear fuel to uranium. “The only country that successfully produces electricity from thorium is India. Considering the fact that the geological conditions in both countries are similar, Pakistan can also look for thorium reserves on its land.”

Describing the idea of using crops for making gasoline as ‘terrible,’ he says this will only lead to acute hunger and poverty. “Yes, oil is decreasing, but still there are enough energy resources in the world for every one of us,” he says.

“The important thing is how do we plan and use natural wealth,” he says, while laying emphasis on sensible use of natural resources, use of eco-friendly methods for exploration, measures to stop contamination and focus on recycling.

This approach can only develop if policy-makers are aware of the importance of geo-science and students are motivated to explore the world around them.

“Except wood and food, everything is produced by geologists who can educate about the sustainable use of resources. The science has been much neglected throughout the world, but it’s time that we make a beginning and change the approach,” he adds.