Pakistan sits on $7tr mineral trove, claims planning minister
Pakistan sits on $7tr mineral trove, claims planning minister.
Pakistan sits on $7tr mineral trove, claims planning minister.
Article outline
- What happened
- The key numbers
- The details
- Reaction
- The bottom line
Key points
- Bakhtawar Mian Published August 26, 2026 Updated August 26, 2026 08: 06am.
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- ISLAMABAD: Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal has asserted that Pakistan estimates its mineral endowment at more than $7 trillion.
- Bakhtawar Mian is a Dawn reporter based in Islamabad with over 27 years of experience in journalism.
- He remarked the 70-year-old treaty had remained "untouchable" even through multiple wars between the two countries.
Bakhtawar Mian Published August 26, 2026 Updated August 26, 2026 08: 06am. Join our Whatsapp Channel. Add Dawn as a trusted source.
As per a statement issued by the planning ministry on Tuesday, mr Iqbal created these remarks in a conversation with Farwa Amin, director for South Asian initiatives at the Asia Society Policy Institute in New York. The minister remarked large-scale mining operations required heavy up-front investments and extensive gestation periods, and the country's volatile political climate was a primary deterrent to international resource developers.
He remarked that with improved macroeconomic stability, the administration was actively courting foreign partners, including US firms, through mechanisms such as the memorandum of understanding with US Strategic Metals, potential EXIM financing and participation in critical-minerals ministerial processes.
Mr Iqbal remarked India unilaterally held the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance, describing it as the "first instance" in modern history of water being weaponised and creating a serious new security challenge for Pakistan. He remarked the 70-year-old treaty had remained "untouchable" even through multiple wars between the two countries. He cautioned that India could now deny Pakistan water when it was needed for crops and release it when it was not required, turning a shared resource into a potential instrument of pressure.
He remarked Pakistan was accelerating construction of new reservoirs to create a strategic buffer, adding that the Diamer-Bhasha and Mohmand dams, once completed, would add roughly six million acre-feet of storage capacity.
These projects are intended both to stabilise water supply against climate-driven variability and to reduce vulnerability to upstream manipulation, he remarked, adding that Islamabad was pursuing diplomatic channels to prevent the dispute from escalating into conflict.
He additionally placed geoeconomics at the centre of Pakistan's foreign policy under the "Uraan Pakistan" framework and the 5E strategy, arguing that the relationship with the United States in particular must move beyond the traditional security-geopolitics axis. Ties with US, China.
Mr Iqbal was equally clear that engagement with the US would not come at the expense of China. He described China as a "trusted partner" that stepped in during Pakistan's energy crisis with the first phase of the CPEC, delivering approximately $25 billion in investment that concluded prolonged power shortages and upgraded highways, fibre-optic networks and Gwadar Port. Published in Dawn, August 26th, 2026.
Bakhtawar Mian is a Dawn reporter based in Islamabad with over 27 years of experience in journalism. He covers social problems and handles special assignments for the publication.
Taken together, the developments around pakistan sits on $7tr mineral trove, claims planning minister point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.
