Pakistani-owned explorer says one hole returned 295 metres of mineralisation and an AI model with LUMS is in the works.
ISLAMABAD: National Resources Limited (NRL), the wholly Pakistani-owned mining venture of Lucky Cement, Fatima Fertilizer and Liberty Mills, said it had found copper and gold mineralisation in at least eight porphyry discoveries in Balochistan’s Chagai district, after nearly 25,000 metres of drilling.
Chairman Muhammad Ali Tabba told the Pakistan Minerals Investment Forum 2026 that one hole had returned 295 metres of continuous mineralisation grading 0.43% copper and 0.13 grams of gold per tonne, including a 132-metre interval at 0.83% copper.
From one prospect to eight
The scale of the work has grown sharply. When NRL first announced its Tang Kaur discovery at the same forum in April 2025, it had completed 13 diamond drill holes totalling 3,517 metres. Drilling since then is roughly seven times that.
The new discoveries cover 5.6 square kilometres at Darigwan, next to Tang Kaur, within exploration licence EL214. Tabba said further work was expected to establish substantial resources, subject to completing exploration and formal estimation.
A separate consultant has prepared preliminary resource estimates, but NRL is withholding them until they comply with international reporting standards. The company is working towards its first formal mineral resource estimate.
The road to a mine
NRL holds five exploration licences in Balochistan: two copper-gold, one lead-zinc and two antimony. It plans environmental, hydrogeological, metallurgical and geotechnical studies in 2027 and aims to complete a bankable feasibility study by the end of the decade.
Tabba reaffirmed a $100 million commitment to exploration in Pakistan and invited domestic and foreign investors and service providers to talk.
The company has also begun building a predictive artificial intelligence model with the Lahore University of Management Sciences, using its geological and drilling data to speed up target selection.
Local skills, local stake
Tabba said the technical workforce was almost entirely Pakistani, with Baloch geologists working alongside foreign consultants and local contractors carrying out inclined drilling. “The people of Balochistan must share in the opportunities created by their mineral wealth,” he said, inviting businesses to support the newly formed Chagai Foundation’s education and community work.
A forum built around Reko Diq
The announcement came at a two-day forum that drew more than 5,000 attendees from over 60 countries. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif told delegates that neighbouring Reko Diq, one of the world’s largest untapped copper-gold deposits, was expected to start production in 2028, and the leadership urged investors to process minerals in Pakistan rather than ship raw ore.
NRL’s progress matters for that pitch: it shows a domestic company, not just a foreign major, advancing a Chagai copper project with Pakistani capital and staff. Security in the province, which the authorities say has improved through recent counter-terrorism operations, will remain the factor investors watch most closely.
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