There are many types of gemstones of Pakistan. They can be found among the nation's three mountain ranges - the

Hindu Kush The Hindu Kush is an mountain range in Central Asia, Central and South Asia to the west of the Himalayas. It stretches from central and eastern Afghanistan into northwestern Pakistan and far southeastern Tajikistan. The range forms the wester ...

, the

Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya ( ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the Earth's highest peaks, including the highest, Mount Everest. More than list of h ...

, and the

Karakoram The Karakoram () is a mountain range in the Kashmir region spanning the border of Pakistan, China, and India, with the northwestern extremity of the range extending to Afghanistan and Tajikistan. Most of the Karakoram mountain range is withi ...

- in the provinces of

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ; , ; abbr. KP or KPK), formerly known as the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), is a Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Pakistan. Located in the Northern Pakistan, northwestern region of the country, Khyber ...

Gilgit-Baltistan Gilgit-Baltistan (; ), formerly known as the Northern Areas, is a region administered by Pakistan as an administrative units of Pakistan, administrative territory and consists of the northern portion of the larger Kashmir region, which has b ...

Balochistan Balochistan ( ; , ), also spelled as Baluchistan or Baluchestan, is a historical region in West and South Asia, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast and bordering the Indian Plate and the Arabian Sea coastline. This arid region o ...

, and the

Federally Administered Tribal Areas The Federally Administered Tribal Areas, commonly known as FATA, was a semi-autonomous tribal region in north-western Pakistan that existed from 1947 until being merged with the neighbouring province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in 2018 through the ...

. The gemstone industry in Pakistan has the city of

Peshawar Peshawar is the capital and List of cities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by population, largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It is the sixth most populous city of Pakistan, with a district p ...

as its hub, and there are many companies working in it.

Industry

In 1979, Gemstones Corporation of Pakistan was established to develop the gemstones sector in Pakistan, however in 1997 the corporation liquidated. Now a number of organizations are working in this sector including All Pakistan Commercial Exporters Association of Rough & Unpolished Precious and Semi Precious Stones (APCEA) and Pakistan Gems and Jewellery Development Company (PGJDC). The Pakistan Gems and Mineral Show is held annually in

since 1994; however, it has not attracted much attention from potential international buyers.

Gem markets

The southern port city of

Karachi Karachi is the capital city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Sindh, Pakistan. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, largest city in Pakistan and 12th List of largest cities, largest in the world, with a popul ...

was once the biggest market of facet and rough cut gems in Pakistan. However, after the

Soviet invasion of Afghanistan The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until it dissolved in 1991. During its existence, it was the largest country by are ...

, the gem market shifted to Peshawar. Peshawar became the hub of gemstones trade. Due to the long and porous border with Afghanistan, many gemstones from the country are now also found in Pakistan and since 1979, Peshawar is the only direct market for all gems found both in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Pakistan Gems and Jewellery Development Company regularly holds ''Gem Bazaars'' (exhibitions) in

Quetta Quetta is the capital and largest city of the Pakistani province of Balochistan. It is the ninth largest city in Pakistan, with an estimated population of over 1.6 million in 2024. It is situated in the south-west of the country, lying in a ...

and Peshawar where gemstones attested by Gemstone Identification Laboratory are traded. In

Islamabad Islamabad (; , ; ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's tenth-most populous city with a population of over 1.1 million and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital Territory. Bu ...

, so far three such exhibitions have been held. In the January 2012 exhibition, around two hundred companies from Pakistan displayed their items. The third Islamabad Gem Exhibition was held in February 2013 where 80 national gem traders displayed their products.

Gem testing labs

The government of Pakistan to has established gem identification laboratories in major cities of Pakistan to promote the gemstone trade in Pakistan. For this purpose, Pakistan Gems and Jewellery Development Company is working in Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar, Quetta, Gilgit, Muzaffarabad and Sargodha cities where the major share of gemstone trade exists. Since the inception of Pakistan Gems & Jewellery Development Company, the gemstone trade in Pakistan has seen a major uplift. There are also some private gem identification labs in Lahore, Karachi, and Peshawar which have qualified gemologists working in their labs.

Mining areas

Pakistan's western and northern areas are home to three mountain ranges -

Hindukush The Hindu Kush is an mountain range in Central and South Asia to the west of the Himalayas. It stretches from central and eastern Afghanistan into northwestern Pakistan and far southeastern Tajikistan. The range forms the western section of ...

Himalaya The Himalayas, or Himalaya ( ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the Earth's highest peaks, including the highest, Mount Everest. More than 100 pea ...

, and

Karakorum Karakorum (Khalkha Mongolian: Хархорум, ''Kharkhorum''; Mongolian script:, ''Qaraqorum'') was the capital city, capital of the Mongol Empire between 1235 and 1260 and of the Northern Yuan, Northern Yuan dynasty in the late 14th and 1 ...

- which are home to all the minerals found in Pakistan. Some of the major mining areas along with their main gemstone yields are mentioned below:

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

The province of

has three large mountain ranges:

covers the area to north and north-west,

to the north and north-east, and

to the east. According to Bureau of Statistics of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 2568 tonnes of

baryte Baryte, barite or barytes ( or ) is a mineral consisting of barium sulfate (Ba S O4). Baryte is generally white or colorless, and is the main source of the element barium. The ''baryte group'' consists of baryte, celestine (strontium sulfate), ...

and 85 tonnes of corundum were produced in 2005-2006 and 1416 tonnes of quartz was produced in 2006–2007 in the province. According to one source, Swat has reserves of 70 million carats of emerald, Mardan has reserves of 9 million carats of pink topaz and Kohistan has 10 million carats worth of reserves of peridot.

Tribal areas

The

are strategically located between the Afghanistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. The region is mostly dry and barren with hilly northern

Bajaur Bajaur District (, ), formerly Bajaur Agency, is a district in the Malakand Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, Pakistan. Prior to 2018, Bajaur Agency was the northernmost component of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), a semi-a ...

and

Mohmand The Mohmand () or Momand is a prominent tribe of Pashtun people. Distribution They are based primarily in the Mohmand territory, which is located in Nangarhar, Afghanistan and Mohmand Agency, Pakistan. In Afghanistan, their areas of presence i ...

agencies. In the central agencies of Khyber, Kurram, and

Orakzai The Orakzai (Pashto: وركزۍ) are a Pashtun tribe native to the Orakzai Agency and parts of Kurram and Khyber Agencies in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Additionally, a sub-tribe of the Orakzai resides in Afghanistan's Maidan W ...

, the

Safed Koh The Spīn GharSafīd Mountain Range
in

...

range is located while in the two southern agencies of

Waziristan Waziristan (Persian language, Persian, Pashto, Ormuri, , ) is a mountainous region of the Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The Waziristan region administratively splits among three districts: North Waziristan, Lower South Waziristan Dis ...

, the

Sulaiman range The Sulaiman Mountains, also known as Kōh-e Sulaymān, Kasē Ghrūna Da Suleiman Ghruna (Pashto: د كسې غرونه ، د سلیمان غرونه; "Mountains of Qaes/Kasi and Solomon") ( Balochi:; "Mountains of Solomon") are a north–south ex ...

along with Waziristan hills are located. A large variety of minerals and gemstones are found in these mountains: emerald and tourmaline are found in the north, and garnet and quartz are found in the Bajaur and South Waziristan agencies. Department of Minerals is the government department working for the exploration and development of the

mining industry Mining is the extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agricultural processes, or feasibly created artificially in a la ...

in the region. According to their report, 29759 tons of quartz was produced in Mohmand agency in 2003–2004. However, the gemstone sector in the region is not developed and many resources have not been properly identified and exploited.

Gilgit Baltistan

The three mountain ranges of

; Himalayas, Hindukush, and Karakoram contain many minerals and gems including emerald, ruby, sapphire, aquamarine, moonstone, and amethyst. A number of other minerals are also found in the region such as peridot, tourmaline, topaz, garnet, red spinal,

pargasite Pargasite or ''pargasitic hornblende'' is a complex Silicate mineral, inosilicate mineral of the amphibole group with formula NaCa2(Mg4Al)(Si6Al2)O22(OH)2. It was first described for an occurrence in Pargas, Finland in 1814 and named for the loc ...

diopside Diopside is a monoclinic pyroxene mineral with composition . It forms complete solid solution series with hedenbergite () and augite, and partial solid solutions with orthopyroxene and pigeonite. It forms variably colored, but typically dull ...

, sphene,

apatite Apatite is a group of phosphate minerals, usually hydroxyapatite, fluorapatite and chlorapatite, with high concentrations of Hydroxide, OH−, Fluoride, F− and Chloride, Cl− ion, respectively, in the crystal. The formula of the admixture of ...

, azurite, rose quartz, and agate. In Swat, pale green to green coloured emeralds can be found in talc-carbonate schist. In Hunza, well formed pink to red crystals of ruby are found, while in Neelum valley high quality rubies also occur. District Nagar Aquamarine Quartz, Topaz, Garnet and many more

Balochistan

is the largest province of Pakistan by area and is covered by rough terrain and rugged mountain ranges. Major mountain ranges of the province include

Makran Makran (), also mentioned in some sources as ''Mecran'' and ''Mokrān'', is the southern coastal region of Balochistan. It is a semi-desert coastal strip in the Balochistan province in Pakistan and in Iran, along the coast of the Gulf of Oman. I ...

, Sulaiman,

Toba Kakar The Toba Kakar or Toba Kakari (; ) are a southern offshoot of the Sulaiman Mountains in the Balochistan province of Pakistan, extending into the Kandahar and Zabul provinces of Afghanistan. The historical route through the mountains is known as ...

, and Kirthar. The main gemstones that are traded in the region include emerald, apatite, sapphire, agate, tourmaline, ruby, topaz, turquoise, lapis lazuli, quartz, garnet, and peridot.

References

Bibliography

* Kazmi, A.H.; Snee, L.W.; Anwar, Jawaid. ''Emeralds Of Pakistan: Geology, gemology and genesis''. Geological Survey of Pakistan, 1989. . * Kazmi, A.H.; O'Donoghue, Michael.
Gemstones of Pakistan:geology and gemmology
'. Gemstone Corp. of Pakistan, 1990. * Usman, A.N.; Usman Ali Naqvi.
Gemstones & Diamond Dealer In Pakistan
'. {{Geography of Pakistan Geology of Pakistan Gemology Economy of Pakistan

Industry

Gem markets

Gem testing labs

Mining areas

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

Tribal areas

Gilgit Baltistan

Balochistan

See also

References

Bibliography