Faiza Tehseen

Substantial garnet deposits in Pakistan remain to be tapped to meet the indigenous industrial needs.

Talking to WealthPK, Muhammad Yaqub Shah, a principal geologist with an Islamabad-based mining company, said: “Despite having a variety of garnet in colour and quality, no serious effort has ever been made to explore the mineral. “Naturally, garnet is an inert, non-toxic and environment-friendly mineral. It represents a silicate mineral group. For commercial purposes, garnet is of two types – abrasive and gem quality.” He said both artificially made abrasives and ephemeral garnet abrasives were available in the market. “Though the material used to manufacture abrasives has hardness of more than 10% they are of no match to the abrasives made out of garnet. In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, garnet occurs in Chitral, Swat, and the Kohistan belt, while best quality garnet also occurs in Gilgit-Baltistan.” Yaqub said: “Garnet can also be mined from placers as well as rocks. Due to its low chloride content, beach garnet is considered the best for the waterjet cutting. It is suitable to be used for recycling units, including blast rooms and cabinets.

It is also used as the ferrous and non-ferrous substrates. Having a low dust ratio, garnet is used in environmentally sensitive applications.” Talking to WealthPK, Abdul Bashir, a chief geologist with Balochistan-based Koh-i-Daleel Minerals (Pvt), Ltd, said: “Garnet is used as a gem-stone and for other industrial purposes. Its formation originated through igneous activity. It is strongly associated with granitoids and likewise lithology and metamorphic rocks.” He said garnet abundantly occurred in KP, Balochistan, and GB. “Ras Koh and Chagai in Balochistan are rich in garnet having a variety of colours, including brown, red, green and black. Here, garnet deposits are available as veins and pockets ranging from large crystals to tiny sizes.”Bashir said: “At the Mohs’ scale of hardness, garnet stands between 6.5% to 7.5%. Usually, 80 and 120 mesh grades are used for waterjet cutting applications, while 30 and 60 mesh is for efficient cutting of metal, wood, and brick. Garnet is extensively used for industrial and strategic purposes – to manufacture motor vehicles, aircraft, shipbuilding and electronic components; for producing sandpaper, abrasive powder, glass, glass polishing and ceramics.” 

He said garnet was used in filtration plants, textile stone washing, furniture finishing, the petroleum industry, and blast-cleaning applications. “It is also used for sand and air blasting. Garnet is mined or synthesised for use in laser, ion-conductor, and magnetic technologies. Spent garnet waste is used to increase the strength of concrete. Used garnet abrasives can be used further as a filler or hardener in concrete block mixture.” He said by bringing awareness concerning the garnet exploration, processing and value addition, a new value chain could be developed. Meanwhile, Zakirullah alias Jhulay Lal, a gemstone exporter, told WealthPK that the Himalayan mountain ranges at the border of Pakistan and Afghanistan were full of garnet deposits.

“Unfortunately, the places where garnet occurs are difficult to traverse. Poor infrastructure also makes it difficult to access the garnet-rich places.”   He said there were more than 20 varieties of garnet in KP, GB and Balochistan, but the most common ones were grossular (grossularite), andradite, almandine (almandite), spassertine and pyrope. He said some other garnet varieties were dementoid, hessonite, tsavorite, rhodolite, and spacertine. “The most rarely occurring tiny crustals is emerald green garnet called uvarovite, also available at some places. From transparent to translucent, every type of garnet can be witnessed in Pakistan. Good quality garnet occurs in Zagi, Mulla Gaori, Spera Ghar, Lora Maina in KP, and Astore and Shigar in GB.” Zakirullah emphasised the importance of systematic exploration of garnet.

Credit: INP-WealthPk