Chagai dominates the list and Turkish firms lead the partners, but most of the paperwork is early-stage and the test now is turning pledges into mines.
ISLAMABAD/LAHORE: Pakistan closed its third minerals investment forum with 13 agreements and memorandums of understanding and a blunt message to foreign investors: the country no longer wants to dig up ore and ship it abroad unprocessed.
The two-day Pakistan Minerals Investment Forum 2026 ended in Islamabad on Friday with delegates from more than 60 countries and senior executives from Barrick Mining, Ivanhoe Mines and China’s Minmetals in attendance.
Balochistan’s Chagai district, home to the Reko Diq deposit, accounts for much of the list. Mari Minerals signed a joint venture with Turkey’s Lidiya Mining and a strategic framework with MTA International, also of Turkey, both for Chagai, and an agreement with US-based Ivanhoe Atlantic for copper and gold exploration there. The Frontier Works Organisation signed an MoU with Ivanhoe Mines for the same district.
MTA International also formed a joint venture with the Pakistan Mineral Development Corporation for antimony, copper, gold, silver and molybdenum in Pishin. Britain’s MSALABS agreed to set up a mineral assay laboratory with Mari, sparing explorers the cost and delay of sending samples overseas.
The Geological Survey of Pakistan signed cooperation papers with its Turkish, German and British counterparts, and Japan issued a statement of intent to support it. The remaining deals cover a gemstone resource assessment, an airborne geophysical survey and seismic imaging technology.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said he wanted investors to build complete value chains, from exploration to finished products, and that mining must meet international standards and protect water and workers. Field Marshal Asim Munir, the chief of defence forces, delivered the same message on processing at home.
Barrick’s executive chairman John Thornton sought to settle doubts about Reko Diq, saying the company, which owns half the project, “intends to continue to be a long-term partner of Pakistan”. The government expects the mine to begin production in 2028.
A National Minerals Database and data centre were launched at the forum, an attempt to fix one of the sector’s oldest complaints, the lack of reliable public geological data.
The loudest announcement came from a Pakistani company. National Resources Limited, owned by Lucky Cement, Fatima Fertilizer and Liberty Mills, reported copper-gold mineralisation in at least eight discoveries in Chagai and reaffirmed a $100 million exploration commitment. It is building an AI exploration model with the Lahore University of Management Sciences.
The gap between potential and output remains wide. The Institute of Cost and Management Accountants puts Pakistan’s mineral reserves at about $8 trillion, yet mining has historically contributed less than 3% of GDP. The institute estimates that, with sound governance and security, mineral exports could rise from roughly $3 billion a year to $8 billion.
Most of what was signed is preliminary. Memorandums do not commit capital, and exploration in Chagai takes years before a mine is financed. Predictable regulation, infrastructure and security in Balochistan will decide how many of the 13 documents become operating projects.
For Punjab, which has salt, coal and iron ore but little copper, the opportunity lies downstream: smelting, cable and component manufacturing, and the engineering and data services that a processing industry needs.
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