Explosives ban renders 4,000 mining projects inoperative in KP: FMOA

Restrictions on explosives supplies have stopped work at about 4,000 mining projects in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa over the past three months, the Frontier Mine Owners Association told reporters, according to Business Recorder. Association leaders said nearly 300,000 mine workers were now without work, while around 2,000 mineral processing units and hundreds of vehicles serving the industry had also been affected.

The association said the disruption was creating economic and social costs, while political allegations against the provincial minerals department were adding to investor uncertainty. Its representatives called on Governor Faisal Karim Kundi to help address the restrictions, which they attributed to federal policies, and also cited forest-related problems, barriers to foreign investment and the lack of industry status for mining as obstacles.