On August 04, 2021 I was waiting to meet the Federal Secretary Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources to discuss the Gasification of Thar Coal.

A Chinese delegation walked in. On introduction I found out that the Chairman of Metallurgical Corporation of China (MCC) had come with his delegation to seek extension of lease for the Saindak Copper-Gold Mine in Balochistan.

It was perhaps destiny as I shook hands with them, I went back in time. The year was 1992, I had recently returned from United States after gaining higher education and experience.

MCC was the contractor for Saindak Metals Limited (SML) hired to build the first large-scale mining project in the country. With my experience of copper mining and metallurgy in Arizona, it was a dream come true as my expertise was sought to steer the first large-scale mining project in my homeland.

Little did I know that vested interests were at work. Despite my warnings and protests, there was no course correction and the project was handed over to the Chinese contractor on a fixed yearly lease.

It was a bonanza for them; the copper concentrate with its silver and gold contents has been shipped to China for the last two decades leaving the tailings behind. Now they were seeking extension of this lucrative deal in my presence.

Had we prepared ourselves to build and then run the Saindak Mine, the experience could have been replicated to nearby Reko Diq and other mining projects in the country.

Then I got a chance to work on developing the Kalabagh Iron Deposit. During my term as Chairman Pakistan Science Foundation (PSF), I got a........

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