Saindak Copper Gold Project
| Location | |
|---|---|
 Saindak Copper-Gold Project
Saindak Copper-Gold Project
|
|
| Location | Saindak, Chagai District |
| Balochistan | |
| Country | Pakistan |
| Coordinates | 29°14′58″N 61°36′43″E / 29.24944°N 61.61194°ECoordinates: 29°14′58″N 61°36′43″E / 29.24944°N 61.61194°E |
| Production | |
| Products | Copper, Gold, Silver |
| History | |
| Opened | 1995 |
| Owner | |
| Company | Metallurgical Corporation of China Ltd. Saindak Metals Ltd. |
Saindak Copper-Gold Mine is located near Saindak town in Chagai District of Balochistan, Pakistan. The discovery of copper deposits at Saindak was made in the 1970s in collaboration with a Chinese engineering firm. The Saindak Copper-Gold Project was set up by Saindak Metals Ltd, a company fully owned by the Government of Pakistan, by the end of 1995 at a cost of PKR 13.5 billion.
Pakistan and China signed a formal contract worth $350 million for development of Saindak Copper-Gold mine. The mine was leased for a 10-year period to Metallurgical Corporation of China Ltd. (MCC), a subsidiary of the China Metallurgical Group Corporation.
Trial production at the Saindak Copper-Gold project started in 1995 with commitment of funding from the Government of Pakistan. The four-month trial operation had a monthly production rate of 1700 tonnes of copper, 6000 oz of gold, 12000 oz. of silver. A 50MW power plant was constructed at Saindak with aid grants from Germany and France. German and French aid grants and the Balochistan government also funded the bulk water supply system of 32,000 tonnes of daily drinking water, water treatment plant, warehouse, workshops, laboratories, storage, airport and railroad link with ECO Highway. The Balochistan government also invested funds in building a township with schools, hospitals, shopping plazas, streets, lighting and water pipelines for over 2000 residents.
After the construction of the infrastructure and the trial run, the project was to be operated by Saindak Metals Ltd, a company owned by the Pakistan government. The federal government was to provide funding for operations of the mine through Saindak Metals. Proceeds from the mine were then to be split between the provincial government of Balochistan and the federal government of Pakistan. However, the PKR 17 Billion required to start operations were not received due to political wrangling and bureaucratic delays. As a result, after the 1995 trial run, the project faltered for a number of years.
In 2002, the Government of Pakistan invited foreign investors to provide funding for the project. The Pakistan government awarded the mining project to the Metallurgical Corporation of China (MCC) Ltd under a 10-year lease due to expire in October 2012. MCC is a subsidiary of the Chinese government owned company, China Metallurgical Group Corporation. Under the terms of the deal, MCC paid an annual rent of $500,000 for the mine to the Government of Pakistan.
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Wikipedia