Soap Stone Steatite Raw Material Natural for Industrial Use The soapstone deposits in the Sherwan area, Hazara District, are mostly in a narrow 10 mile zone in the dolomite unit of the Abbottabad Formation of probable Carboniferous age. Most of the deposits are at the eastern end on the northern flank of a syncline.
Soapstone (also known as steatite or soaprock) is a talc-schist, which is a type of metamorphic rock. It is composed largely of the magnesium rich mineral talc. It is produced by dynamothermal metamorphism and metasomatism, which occur in the zones where tectonic plates are subducted changing rocks by heat and pressure, with influx of fluids, but without melting. It has been a medium for carving for thousands of years