Pakistan's Punjab government on Tuesday claimed that they had discovered "massive gold deposits" worth over PKR 700 billion in the province.
"We have discovered 2.8 million tola gold in Attock district of Punjab," Punjab Minister for Mines and Minerals Sardar Sher Ali Gorchani told reporters here.
He said the Geological Survey of Pakistan launched a study on the gold deposits in Attock last year and discovered a huge quantity of gold there. Nespak and other firms will be hired to accurately determine the value of these reserves.
"The worth of gold deposits is PKR 600 bn-700 bn in the international market," the minister claimed.
He said the government had immediately formed rules for auctioning the gold reserves, and the process would begin in a month.The Geological Survey of Pakistan conducted sampling in 127 sites in Attock.
The minister said the auction of the gold deposits will take place next month and will be advertised internationally. An auction committee has already been formed and the auction rules are set to be approved in a Punjab cabinet meeting next Tuesday.
Provincial authorities have imposed Section 144 in the area to prevent illegal gold extraction. The minister added that no incidents of theft have occurred so far.
