ISLAMABAD, Oct 19 :
A total of 135 mines across Pakistan have adopted mechanized mining techniques under a national drive to modernise the country’s marble and granite industry, significantly cutting material wastage and improving production efficiency.
According to official documents available with Wealth Pakistan, the shift toward mechanized quarrying has reduced waste from nearly 85 percent to about 45 percent, while attracting Rs 1.16 billion in combined public-private investment.
The modernization drive, spearheaded by the Pakistan Stone Development Company (PASDEC), has introduced technology-based extraction methods and skill-development initiatives aimed at enhancing product quality and boosting exports.
According to the documents, the PASDEC has so far assisted 135 operational mines in adopting modern quarrying equipment, with training support from provincial mineral departments, donor agencies, and international partners.
The cumulative investment of Rs 1.16 billion has financed machinery pools, skill-building programmes, and technology upgrades across the country’s major stone belts.
The mechanization programme has also generated more than 800 technical and non-technical jobs, both directly and indirectly, especially in less-developed districts, including the newly merged areas of the former FATA. In these regions, project activities have provided alternative income sources and new business opportunities to local communities.
The PASDEC’s transition plan has helped transform traditional blasting-based mining into controlled cutting of standardized “square blocks,” a practice widely used in international markets. The improvement in block quality has strengthened Pakistan’s ability to meet export standards in countries such as China, Korea, and Italy, where demand for processed marble and granite continues to rise.
Pakistan possesses an estimated 30 billion tonnes of marble and granite reserves, spread across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, Sindh, Punjab, Gilgit-Baltistan, and Azad Jammu and Kashmir. Over the past five years, Pakistan’s marble exports have averaged around US $ 37 million annually, mostly in raw or semi-processed form.
Efforts are also under way to locally manufacture quarrying machinery in collaboration with the Pakistan Machine Tool Factory, aiming to reduce dependence on imported equipment, cut operational costs, and strengthen domestic engineering capacity. This initiative will not only lower production costs for small miners but also encourage value addition within Pakistan.
Financial records show that PASDEC has operated without public-sector development funding since 2014, sustaining its operations through internally generated income. Over the past decade, it has earned Rs 1.074 billion and extended about Rs 1 billion in subsidies to miners to promote mechanised quarrying and modern extraction practices.
Future plans include operationalizing new industrial units at Marble City Risalpur, developing a similar marble and granite estate in Loralai, and phasing out conventional blasting by 2030. The company also intends to expand public-private partnerships, attract foreign investment, and conduct feasibility studies for provincial stone clusters to further develop the sector.
