US Companies are Wishing to Invest in Pakistan’s Mineral Sector

According to sources, US companies are seeking to invest in Pakistan’s largely untapped mineral sector. “This could help boost one of the world’s largest copper and gold deposits,” the Pakistani government said Wednesday.

According to a government statement, Eric Meyer, Senior Bureau Official for the State Department’s Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, expressed this interest to Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif during a meeting in Islamabad. Meyer attended the Pakistan Minerals Investment Forum. This was an international summit designed to attract foreign investment in the country’s mining sector.

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Pakistan’s Mineral Deposits

Pakistan is rich in lithium, a mineral that is used to make batteries. It also has a lot of gold and copper reserves. Pakistan’s massive copper and gold deposits are located in Reko Diq, a district in restive Balochistan. Major international corporations, including Barrick Gold, which is based in Canada, as well as government officials from the United States, Saudi Arabia, China, Turkiye, the United Kingdom, and Azerbaijan, among other nations, have attended the summit. The powerful head of Pakistan’s army, Gen. Asim Munir, assured foreign investors and businesses that the military would guarantee their safety.

According to the statement, Meyer “acknowledged the potential of Pakistan’s mineral sector” and that American businesses are interested in investigating investment opportunities. He reaffirmed Washington’s interest in expanding bilateral cooperation, including in such sectors as trade, investment, and counterterrorism, the statement said. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said Pakistan’s minerals sector offered “immense opportunities” and has encouraged U.S. companies to take advantage of the investment potential.

Sharif also said that Islamabad wanted to get closer to the Trump administration. Meyer’s visit marks the first by a Trump administration official since the US imposed a 29 percent tariff on Pakistani exports as part of his trade war. Sharif’s office said in a statement later Wednesday that the Pakistani prime minister will dispatch a high-level delegation to Washington to negotiate with Trump administration officials over the tariffs issue and to discuss how to enhance bilateral trade. Hoping that the investment potential can lure the international government and finally ease the tariffs a little bit.