ISLAMABAD: The Government of Gilgit-Baltistan has announced a groundbreaking reform in the region’s mining sector by lifting the ban on mineral titles processing and introducing a fully automated online system.
According to a notification from GB department of Mineral, Industry, Commerce and Labor this decision made during the 11th and 14th Cabinet meetings held on July 9 and December 15, 2024, respectively, brings an end to the ban imposed on March 4, 2021, by the Chief Minister of Gilgit-Baltistan” read a notification from GB department of mineral, Industry, Commerce and Labor.
Starting from January 6, 2025, all new applications for mineral titles will be processed exclusively through the official online portal: https://portal.minesandmineralsgb.gog.pk. This system promises to enhance transparency, reduce delays, and streamline the application process for better management of the region’s mineral resources.
Applications submitted before March 2021 will be prioritized for processing before new applications are entertained. The process will adhere strictly to the Gilgit-Baltistan Mining Concession Rules, 2016, including subsequent amendments in 2019 and 2024.
Meanwhile, the traditional practice of separating gold from sand along the rivers is still alive in Gilgit-Baltistan.Hundreds of families of a tribe called Sonewal in Shina language and Mowaan in Brosheski earn a livelihood by collecting gold specks from the sand accumulated along river banks and selling them to jewellers in Gilgit city.
Meraj Alam, resident of Diamer, said that gold was said to flow in the rivers of Gilgit-Baltistan. He said hundreds of families were associated with the trade since many decades, adding the families roamed river banks in search of gold across the region when flow in the rivers decreased in winter season.
Families of the Sonewal tribe could be seen camped at river banks in different areas of GB, staying there through winter collecting gold.
Mr Alam said the gold gathering process was tiresome and many a time the people didn’t get what they wanted. He said the gold gathering families carried with them all the items of daily use. “Such families are like nomadic people, travelling river to river, collecting soil and then separating gold from it,” he maintained.
Amir along with his family is currently camped at the bank of Gilgit River. “We keep moving along different rivers in search of gold,” he said, adding separating gold particles from the river sand was their old profession to earn livelihoods. He said about 3,000 people of the tribe earned their living from the trade.
Amir claimed that he usually earned Rs1,500 every day collecting gold from the Gilgit River, saying since most members of the tribe were illiterate they searched for gold for a living.
