PESHAWAR: A Pakistan-China joint venture mining company has moved the Peshawar High Court against the alleged delay in completion of an inquiry related to different administrative and judicial proceedings regarding its mining rights.

The company, Tuny Pak Minerals Limited, filed a petition through its chief coordination officer, Mohammad Ishaq, seeking directives of the court for the relevant inquiry committee to conclude the probe and submit a report within a “reasonable timeframe”.

It also requested the court to direct the committee to submit its report to the court.

The petitioner has also sought interim relief from the court requesting that until final disposal of the petition, the inquiry committee may be directed to ensure that all material and records pertaining to the inquiry were preserved and not altered, destroyed or tampered with.

Requests probe conclusion, report submission in ‘reasonable timeframe’

The petitioner claimed that the Independent Inquiry Committee (IIC) was constituted through the principal secretary to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister on Feb 24, 2026, with a mandate to look into the relevant proceedings and submit a report by March 7, 2026.

The petitioner has in the past remained embroiled in certain disputes with the KP mines and minerals directorate during exploration of minerals, including antimony, in Chitral district.

The petition, filed through advocate Syed Asif Jalal, said that early this year, the petitioner sent a letter to the chief minister requesting the constitution of an IIC regarding their affairs in accordance with an earlier judgement of the high court.

The petitioner said that it was a foreign-invested mining company that commenced operations in Chitral in 2011 under a valid Reconnaissance Licence (RL).

It claimed that during the course of exploration after converting the RL into Exploration Licence (EL), multiple inspection teams from the mines and mineral department had conducted inspections and issued positive reports regarding the professional standards and compliance of the petitioner.

The petitioner claimed that an investment exceeding $5 million was made in exploration activities, leading to confirmation of commercially viable mineral reserves, following which the company applied for conversion from EL to Mining Licence (ML).

It, however, claimed that on Aug 7, 2013, the Mineral Titles Committee (MTC) under the prevalent Mining Concession Rules, 2005, illegally cancelled its EL and rejected its ML application.

The petitioner said that it then moved the high court, which declared the cancellation of its EL illegal and directed the mines department to proceed in the matter strictly in accordance with the law.

It claimed that in compliance with the PHC judgement, the MTC constituted a five-member professional committee in Sep 2025 to review the petitioner’s case.

The petitioner said that a comprehensive official report exceeding 520 pages was finalised in November by the legal adviser of the mines department and finally submitted to the MTC.

It added that the several recommendations were made by that committee in its favour.

The petitioner alleged that it had information that certain external pressures could attempt to override the high court judgement, disregard the official report and negate the professional conclusions reached during the MTC proceedings.

The petitioner, in its letter to the chief minister, had requested the constitution an IIC so that the final MTC decision strictly reflected the judicial directives and documented proceedings.

In the past, the company was accused of illegally exporting explored antimony to China. However, it denied the allegation, insisting 413 tons of antimony ore were exported strictly under a government-approved 500-ton pilot project permit for testing purposes.

Published in Dawn, April 19th, 2026