Saindak Copper – Gold is located near Saindak town in Chagai district of Balochistan, Pakistan. Saindak in Baloch language, it is called Black Hill.
Unearthing of gold, copper & silver deposits at Saindak was made in the 1970s, in fraternising with a Chinese engineering firm. The Saindak Copper-Gold Project was set up by Saindak Metals Ltd, a company fully owned by the Government of Pakistan, by the end of 1995 at a cost of PKR 13.5 billion. Pronto, Metallurgical Corporation of China is operating two mechanized hard rock underground Copper-Gold mines with current production of 7.25T per annum of copper-gold from smelting process.
In Saindak , excavation from the western mine has been completed. Raw materials are being extracted from Eastern and Western mines here 1659 Pakistanis work on contract basis. The minimum wage is 1505 dollars and the maximum is 1500 dollars a month. There were three shifts, eight hours of duty and the food system wasn’t working. Bourgeois of this class has its own values which weren’t dictated by society.
Also, there is a lot of dust at work which causes dust particles to get into the lungs through the nose and this leads to asthmatic issues and other diseases.
The rule for those who work here is that after three years the company isn’t responsible for them.
In terms of health, in 2016 the production was 14136 ton copper, 110331 kilograms of gold and 1706 kilograms of silver. The job is on contract and they give one year contract. When the year is over then they give the contract. If there is any problem with any employee then there is an objection then next year’s contract isn’t given. If there is no Union, there is nobody to raise their voice. No one can raise their voice for their rights. No one can fight for their rights. And , if even someone raises a voice against it, he is fired from his job and it means that talking about rights is forbidden there. And the youngest who is paid too little that he doesn’t know where to spend his money, to spend on himself, to eat on his own or to send to his family, to send home and his children to school at home. Eid also comes for them and their children go to school and there are so many expenses that Eid comes and the parents can’t give such happiness to their children. These are really very painful things that if the government pays attention to these things, all this can be much better, but the whole thing are that if the government pays attention, this is the job of the government and the government should fake action for this. There is a class that should work for Pakistan. Everything is going on because of them. In this project I have seen many employees who couldn’t even get their children shoes.
Chagai is the same district where the atom bomb test were done due to which such children have been born disabled , skin cancer and other diseases because of those tests are also the melancholia for Balochistan, and it doesn’t benefit them. The government isn’t giving any justice and they are constantly benefiting from Balochistan but it doesn’t benefit the Baloch.
Pakistan and China signed a formal contract worth $350 million for development of Saindak Copper-Gold mine project. The mines were leased for a 10-year period to Metallurgical Corporation of China Ltd. (MCC), a subsidiary of the China Metallurgical Group Corporation. Pakistan and China have equal shares in the company while Balochistan gets only 5%.
Coercion of Baloch toward their people is undesired. A little affection from the government of Pakistan would have fruitful outcomes. Besides, people have no desire for social or political endeavours, but selflessness.
Not much greed of these people, it is just that all their affairs should be easier, basic needs should be net their easily, clean water should be available there, living system should be good there, as from that region Pakistan, get too benefits, education should be normalised there as other provinces, hospitals and other institutions should be established there, and, work for the incentives for Baloch people for their prosperity and for the improvement of the system.
