ISLAMABAD (APP) - ICCI urged the government on Wednesday to review the mineral policy in order to exploit the natural resources. Mining industry has immense potential to contribute towards the economic development of Pakistan. However, substantial reserves of various mines and natural resources have not been exploited to their full capacity, Mahfooz Elahi, President, ICCI, made these remarks while chairing a meeting here. He said that the government should review the mineral policy with an aim to make it more investment friendly, effective and efficient with enhanced productivity and safety. To harness adequate mineral potential with domestic and foreign investment, the government should ensure contemporary mining policies in line with internationally known best practices with competitive fiscal incentives, he added. While referring to figures published in the Economic Survey of Pakistan 2010-11, he observed that most of minerals witnessed negative growth rate during the period. He said that mining and quarrying sector has grown by 0.4 percent in 2010-11 as against 2.2 percent last year while growth of coal declined by 4.0 percent, chromites 39.3 percent, magnesite 60.9 percent and barites 32.6 percent. However, marble and granite sector showed considerable growth of 46 percent in exports over last year. The ICCI President was of the view that the pace of foreign direct investment could not be maintained due to non-implementation of national mining policy by the provinces resulting in all the mining companies abandoned their activities gradually.