OFFICIALS often state that Pakistan’s untapped mineral wealth can be a potential ‘game-changer’. The planning minister’s recent comment while speaking to a think tank in New York, offers more of the same optimism. According to Ahsan Iqbal, Pakistan’s mineral endowment was estimated to be worth “more than $7 trillion”. It is not known how the minister arrived at that eye-watering figure. Mr Iqbal also mentioned that exploiting this mineral wealth required major investment, while the “country’s volatile political climate” was the “primary deterrent” to attracting foreign capital in the sector. In other words, this massive bonanza cannot be tapped just yet.

There is little doubt that Pakistan has........

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