The chairman of the MCC Resources Development Company (MRDL), which is executing the Saindak Copper-Gold Project, has warned that the project will be closed in 2021 if the Balochistan government does not issue exploration licence for East Ore Body development, which is included in the mining lease of the Saindak Metal Limited (SML).

On the other hand, the Balochistan government says the MRDL’s (latest) application for the licence was received only in September, along with applications from other companies, and a final decision on the award of the contract for new block will be made shortly.

“Deposits in South and North Ores Body in Saindak have been depleting and, after 2021, nothing would remain there to continue work on the project,” MRDL chairman He Xuping told a media team during its visit to the Saindak project.

The MRDL applied for the exploration licence in 2012, but no decision was taken by the authorities concerned, and another application was submitted to the mines department in the same year, Mr He said.

“The company sent a third application to the mines department in Sept 2019 for another ore body close to the north body.”

He said that the estimated volume of the deposit in Eastern Ore Body would be around 278 million tonnes and its age was over 19 years.

For the East Ore Body, he said, some new equipment and machinery would be required as the machinery and equipment had completed their age.

Mr He said that presently 1,915 people were working on the project in different sectors. “Of these employees, 1,669 are Pakistani, including 1,456 belonging to Nushki and Chagai districts of Balochistan. Only 246 employees, including engineers, are Chinese.”

With the closure of the project, these Pakistani employees would lose their jobs, warned the MRDL chairman.

Despite passage of long time, he said, the Balochistan government had not yet taken a decision on the company’s application.

“We want to do more work in the area for development of minerals and the local people of the area,” he said, adding that under Corporate Social Responsibility, the company had paid $5.51 million to the provincial government while another amount of over Rs8.42 billion had been paid in royalty.

Mr He said that over the past decade, the activities of the MRDL had given new impetus to economic growth of Balochistan.

“First of all, it has increased the revenue of Pakistan. By the end of June 2019, the company has contributed $43m tax and profit dividend, greatly solved the fiscal dilemma of Pakistan, and provided material foundation for the reformation measures and the livelihood. Secondly, the company has made local purchases of different commodities worth about $1 billion.”

By the end of 2018, he said, “the project had processed more than 70 million tons of ore, produced about 240,000 tonnes of blister copper and achieved sales revenue of about $2.1bn. Until June 2019, the cumulative tax charges and profit share to the Pakistan government reached a total of $437m.

Mr He further said that from June 2003 to June 2019, his company had also made other huge payments that included $302.22m made to Saindak Metals Limited as its share from the profit, $7.75m rent to the SML, $22.25m in presumptive tax, besides Export Processing Zone surcharge of $10.67m and Rs580.64m income tax.

He dispelled the impression that the Chinese were working on all important positions in the project, saying that the local people were holding most of the 20 key offices, except four or five which were being held by Chinese nationals.

“We have not sacked any employee from the project. We recruit employees according to the international law and regulations. Only those lost their jobs who had violated the rules and regulations of the employment,” the MRDL chairman said and claimed that the company was paying “all allowances” and “offering other incentives” to all employees without any discrimination.

“We pay 13 months’ salary to our employees instead of 12 months in one year,” he said.

Mr He said that a hospital and a high school had been established for locals inside the project premises. Two buses were available for pick and droop of 600 students studying in the schools and living in six villages of Saindak. “The hospital, staffed also by lady doctors, provides healthcare facilities to residents of the area as it receives patients from nearby settlements, including Taftan, a town on Pakistan-Iran border.”

Besides, he said, the company was supplying “free-of-cost electricity to six villages round the clock”. “Arrangements have also been made to supply water to the villages in the vicinity of the project.”

When contacted, Balochistan government spokesman Liaquat Ali Shahwani confirmed about the MRDL applications for the exploration licence and said two applications had been received in 2012 when Nawab Aslam Raisani was chief minister, who did not take any decision on the applications.

Later in 2013, Nawab Raisani’s successor Dr Malik Baloch constituted a ‘mines and mineral board’, with he himself as its chairman and the then chief secretary, finance secretary, director general of the federal mines and mineral department and DG mines of Balochistan as members. However, not a single meeting of the board was held during the successive coalition governments of Dr Malik, Nawab Sanaullah Zehri and Mir Abdul Qudoos Bizenjo, up to 2018,” the spokesman said.

Finally, the first meeting of the mines and mineral board, chaired by incumbent Chief Minister Jam Kamal Alyani, was held in February this year.

“Working papers for the next meeting of the board have been forwarded to the provincial mines and mineral secretary,” a senior official said, adding that the (latest) application of the MRLD had been received only in September this year.

“Applications from other companies have also been received and all applications would be discussed in the board’s next meeting where finally a decision would be taken on issuing the exploration licence.”

Published in Dawn, September 28th, 2019