Political leadership of Pakistan's two mineral rich provinces on Thursday extended security guarantees to foreign investors, as the federal government is also expected to announce new promissory deals with an international mining firm to extract critical minerals. During an opening day of the third Pakistan International Mineral Forum, Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz presented a concrete investment incentive plan to the investors, offering concessional loans, cheaper land on lease and waiving off custom duties on the mineral and mines related imports. But these loans were mostly meant for small to medium-sized companies. Balochistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa assured the investors to address their security concerns, which also led to pausing the development on the multibillion dollars Reko Diq project till June next year. Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti announced that a new security division is being established by the Frontier Constabulary to provide a safe security zone to foreign investors inclined to extract the critical minerals. Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Governor Faisal Karim Kundi, the administrative head of the province after an emergency is imposed, announced that the province was establishing a Mineral and Mines Company to take benefit from the hidden reserves. The two-day conference is aiming at presenting a comprehensive and unified investment opportunities by federal and provincial governments to lay the path for exploration of over $6 trillion untapped reserves, which include 92 types of minerals. On the second day (Friday), two most important speeches will be by the executives of Barrick Gold –a 50% owner of the Reko Diq mines, and Ivanhoe Mines –another mining firm that may today announce a memorandum of understanding with the federal entities. Barrick Gold Chairman John L Thornton and Executive Chairman of Ivanhoe, Robert Friedland, were in the town. Pakistan is keen to revive the stalled Reko Diq project, which the Barrick Gold has put on hold until June next year. The country is also keen to have joint ventures with Ivanhoe. Robert Friedland also owns I-Pulse Technology Inc, which has the most sophistical mining technology and has helped many big discoveries. Pakistan has 92 known minerals, 52 of them commercially exploited, said Secretary Petroleum Hamed Yaqoob Sheikh in his welcome address. The chief minister of Punjab shared the financial incentives with the participants and she appeared well prepared for the event compared to the two other chief ministers, the Governor of K-P, Prime Minister of Azad Jammu & Kashmir and Chief Minister of Gilgit-Baltistan. She said that the province has setup a Mineral Processing Zone at Quaidabad where monthly lease rent is just Rs15,000 and a 15 years lease period. Maryam said that a Sanati Taraqi (Industrial Development) for Export Promotion Zone has also been established where the import duties have been waived off, there will be zero interest on loans up to Rs100 million, 3% interest on loans from Rs100 Million to Rs3 billion and 5% on loans from Rs3 to Rs5 billion. While addressing the forum, Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar said that under the constitutional scheme of arrangement, the provinces were the integral part of the mineral sector development plan. Dar said Pakistan was working to diversify its export base by capitalizing on its vast geological and mineral wealth. The deputy prime minister described Balochistan as vital to Pakistan's mineral future, noting that the global transition to clean energy was driving demand for copper and creating new opportunities for mineral exploration in the country. He said the Pakistan Investment Policy 2023 provided protection to investors, highlighting the government's efforts to strengthen the investment environment. Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz said the province's revenue from the minerals has increased fourfold from Rs10 billion to Rs40 billion over the past two and a half years. She highlighted the province's reserves of emeralds, marble, granite, gold, gemstones, copper, pink salt and rock salt. She said Chiniot possessed 261.5 million tonnes of iron ore that could be processed into steel. The chief minister also highlighted efforts to increase the value of pink salt exports, saying the mineral had previously been exported in raw form, limiting Pakistan's earnings. She said the provincial government was providing interest-free financing to pink salt miners to encourage value addition and the production of finished goods. She also referred to evidence of placer gold deposits in Punjab's rivers, particularly in the Mianwali and Attock areas. She said surveys and studies were underway to determine the quantity of gold available in the rivers. "We have significant evidence, significant evidence that there is sufficient quantity of placer gold," she said. The chief minister added that sand and gravel associated with placer gold could also contain rare earth elements, precious minerals and metals. Speaking during the discussion, the Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah urged international investors and experts to visit Pakistan's provinces rather than limiting their engagements to Islamabad. He expressed hope that projects involving coal-to-fertiliser and coal-to-gas technologies would be finalised within the next year. The chief minister also referred to promising lithium reserves in Sindh, saying he had recently discussed the matter with the chairman and managing director of the Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDC). He said the provincial government wanted the reserves to be properly explored over the coming year, describing lithium as another strategic mineral of interest. The Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfaraz Bugti said the provincial government was looking forward to two major interventions involving oil and gas, including the Saruna and Sui Fertiliser cities. He also highlighted plans to digitise the province's mineral department before July next year. The chief minister said these were among the key developments he expected to see by the next Pakistan Minerals Investment Forum. Bugti said that there was no security issue in the province as whatever shown on television screens was far from the reality. He said that the frontier constabulary has raised a new security division to provide a safe security corridor in the province. The chief minister said that the Reko Dik mining project would be operational by 2029 –a deadline that appears challenging given the fact that the Barrick Gold that is administrating the project has paused the work due to security reasons. Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Governor Faisal Karim Kundi said building confidence among local and international investors remained a priority for the provincial government. He said the focus should be on establishing long-term partnerships rather than seeking immediate financial commitments. The provincial government has waged a war against the illegal mining in the province and 10 policemen martyred on Wednesday in Kohat region. He said that illegal mining was causing Rs2 billion monthly loss. The governor expressed hope that investors would have greater confidence in the K-P government, as well as peace and stability in the province, by the time the forum convened the following year again. He said the results of ongoing efforts would demonstrate the province's commitment to investors. The AJK Prime Minister said that his special region would align the mineral legislation with the national framework to provide uniformed policies to the foreign investors. The Gilgit Baltistan chief minister said that his province was facing challenges of poor infrastructure and energy outages, which could be a hurdle in exploration of minerals in the province.