Wrong mining practices destroy 70pc of top quality marble

Friday, December 18, 2009
Francesco Dall’Olio, Director of Punto Italiano (Pvt) Limited, said that Onyx, a semi-precious stone, is abundantly found in Pakistan but owing to lack of mining facilities and old mining methods, its real potential is still untapped.

Dall’Olio, who is permanently residing in Pakistan for the last six years runs the only Italian marble company in Pakistan, said they are here to introduce modern technologies that the other leading marble exporters are using to produce finest products round the world.

Citing the example of wrong mining practices in Pakistan which destroys over 70 per cent of one the best quality marbles of the world, he said: “You can not drive Ferrari car if you do not know driving, or if you go for drive you will ram the car into anything coming in your way.”

Though, Pakistan has ample reserves of high quality marble scattered across the country, it is unable to get hold of immense potential owing to numerous reasons. Instability in this region has also disturbed investment atmosphere especially in Pakistan, a front line country fighting war against terror, has literally propelled investment away from the country. “Investors are highly sceptical of coming in Pakistan. How can an investor invest when he is shy of going to the place where has to invest?” he asked.

There are two important technologies used in marble processing and extraction.

Diamond Wire Technology is used for marble extraction and Multi Wire Machine is used for marble processing.

When he was asked how he found local people living around the marble mines, he said: “Local people are excellent learners, they learn with open minds and their valuable suggestions are very helpful in introducing new trends in mining and marble extraction. They welcome you when you come up with new ideas - a helpful trait in inducting new techniques and technology.”