The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Home Department has allowed green mining operations to resume across all districts, with a condition prohibiting explosives. An official notification permits surface mining and other related activities at green mines. It also declares green mining projects to be projects of national interest.
The department based its decision on a clearance letter issued on September 10, according to the notification cited in the report.
District administrations and law enforcement agencies must take the necessary measures to facilitate the resumption of operations.
Explosives remain outside the permission
The notification gives green mines permission to restart activities without using explosives. Its reported scope covers surface mining and associated work at these sites across the province.
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The distinction matters for operators assessing whether they can resume extraction. The permission described applies specifically to green mining operations that meet the condition on explosives.
District authorities to facilitate operations
The Home Department has assigned district administrations and law enforcement agencies a direct role in facilitating the revival.
The notification’s national-interest designation accompanies that instruction, placing responsibility for implementation with authorities across KP’s districts.
However, the reported text does not provide a district-by-district reopening schedule or explain how officials will assess individual sites.
Separately, KP’s Minerals Development Department operates a Mining Cadastre Portal for engagement with mineral-sector stakeholders.
The official portal describes its purpose as improving transparency and the ease of doing business in the province. It provides an electronic platform through which stakeholders can engage directly with the department.
That existing administrative platform offers wider context for mining-sector management.
Separate Karachi case highlights illegal extraction
The source report also recalled a separate enforcement operation in Karachi’s Malir district last year. That incident concerned alleged illegal sand and gravel extraction and had no stated connection to KP’s decision.
Police arrested two suspects during a joint raid with the Mines and Minerals Department.
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According to police, the suspects used heavy machinery to remove large quantities of river silt from the Malir River.
Authorities seized two dumpers along with loaders and moved the equipment to a police station. Police alleged that the group extracted sand under cover of darkness.
The current KP notification concerns the resumption of green mining within that province, subject to its explicit restriction on explosives.
