Gypsum is another nonmetallic valuable industrial
raw material, used as raw material for fertilizer, as a retarder in cement and
as filler in paper, rubber industries etc. Plaster of Paris is also a product
of gypsum.
Reserves of gypsum are estimated at 350 million
tonnes and production during 2000-01 was 364 thousand tonnes, which was 666
thousand tonnes during 1993-94, after this decline was due to shutdown of
fertilizer industry at Jaranwala, where gypsum was consumed as raw material.
Another valuable use of gypsum is in reclamation of water logged and saline
soils. During 2007-08 its production again become more than 660 thousand metric
tonnes.
In salt Range region, deposits of Khewra, Dandot,
Daud Khel, Quidabad are very large and valuable.
Gypsum deposits occur frequently in the western
mountains, among these, the deposits of Dandot Rakhi Munh (foot hills of the Suleiman
Range--D.G. Khan district), Saiyiduwali (Kishore Range) and Spintangi &
Chamalong (Marri-Bugti Hills) are also important.
At present, most of the gypsum production is
obtained from Khewari, Dandot, and Saudkhel mines in the Salt Range.