PESHAWAR: A Chinese mining firm has acquired 44 kanals at the Export Promotion Zone in Risalpur, near here, for establishing a metal processing unit with an initial investment of $30 million, according to an official handout released on Friday.

A visiting delegation of Pearl River Mining Private Limited, led by its chief executive officer Wang Liang, called on Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak and apprised him of the progress made on setting up the processing unit at Risalpur.

The Chinese delegation informed the chief minister that the processing unit would hire 400 employees from among the local people. “With the setting up of the mining factory, copper salphite, copper oxide, lead, silver, gold, zinc and antimony used in electronics would be exploited in Upper and Lower Dir, Chitral, Kohistan and Hazara districts, Gilgit and Wazirstan areas and transported to the factory for purification,” according to the handout.

The EPZ, Risalpur, is a federal government initiative and investments from abroad and from within the country are processed by the federal ministry of commerce, according to a member of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Talking to officials of the Chinese firm, the chief minister expressed satisfaction about the progress made so far in setting up the factory and assured his government’s cooperation in pursuing their business endeavours in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

He termed it a good omen for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and its people, hoping more foreign investors would take a cue from the Chinese firm and invest in the natural resource sector of the province to take benefit of its vast potential.

Mr Khattak said that the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf-led provincial government would never accept any conditional foreign assistance.

“We believe in trade not aid and for this we are ready to provide all kinds of incentives and guarantees to the investors,” the chief minister was quoted by the official statement.

He said that his government invited foreign investors to invest in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with all satisfaction, utilising its precious minerals and water for hydel power generation.

The Chinese delegation also included the company’s lab in-charge Lee Engnen, manager Hui, managing director of the project Fahad, and senior mining geologist M. Essa Khan.

The company chief informed the chief minister that services of local mining companies would also be hired, which would give a boost to business activities in the surrounding areas of the processing unit.