Copper and gold mines at Chagai: what it could mean for the mining sector

In a remote and arid stretch of Baluchistan’s Chagai district — known to most Pakistanis as the site of the country’s 1998 nuclear tests — something unexpected has emerged from beneath the desert soil. This time, it’s not the detonation of a nuclear device that has captured national attention, but the quiet discovery of significant copper and gold mineralization.

Earlier this month, a joint venture company called National Resource (Pvt) Limited (NRL) — owned equally by Lucky Cement, Fatima Fertilizer, and Liberty Mills — announced that it had struck mineral wealth in a promising greenfield site called Tang Kaur. Located within Chagai, the same geologically rich region that hosts Pakistan’s fabled Reko Diq deposit, the Tang Kaur discovery could mark the start of a new chapter in Pakistan’s long-stalled resource economy. 

With drill holes showing strong mineralized zones up to 148 meters long and copper-equivalent grades of up to 0.56%, the find is still in its early days — but the market has already taken notice.