Pakistan's Supreme Court has endorsed a settlement for Barrick Gold to resume mining at the Reko Diq project in Pakistan, one of the world's largest underdeveloped sites of copper and gold deposits. Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial’s order said “The agreements have not been found by us to be unconstitutional or illegal on the parameters and grounds spelt out. The endorsement was a condition of the settlement for Barrick to resume work on the project in the southwestern province of Balochistan, bordering Afghanistan and Iran, in which it will invest USD 10 billion. The company's licence to mine the untapped deposits was cancelled after the Supreme Court ruled illegal the award granted to it and its partner Chile's Antofagasta. Antofagasta had agreed to exit the project, saying its growth strategy was focused on production of copper and by-products in the Americas. In an out of court agreement this year, Barrick Gold ended a long-running dispute with Pakistan, and agreed to restart development. Under the deal, the company withdrew its case in an international arbitration court, which had slapped a penalty of USD 11-billion on Pakistan for suspending the contracts of the company and its partners in 2011. Reko Diq represents one of the largest copper and gold reserves in the world having estimated reserves of 5.9 billion tonnes of ore grading 0.41% copper and gold reserves amounting to 41.5 million oz. The Reko Diq area is part of the Tethyan Magmatic Arc, extending through central and southeast Europe (Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece) Turkey, Iran and Pakistan through the Himalayan region into Myanmar, Malaysia, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. It contains wealth of large copper-gold ore deposits of varying grades.
Pakistan's Supreme Court has endorsed a settlement for Barrick Gold to resume mining at the Reko Diq project in Pakistan, one of the world's largest underdeveloped sites of copper and gold deposits. Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial’s order said “The agreements have not been found by us to be unconstitutional or illegal on the parameters and grounds spelt out. The endorsement was a condition of the settlement for Barrick to resume work on the project in the southwestern province of Balochistan, bordering Afghanistan and Iran, in which it will invest USD 10 billion. The company's licence to mine the untapped deposits was cancelled after the Supreme Court ruled illegal the award granted to it and its partner Chile's Antofagasta. Antofagasta had agreed to exit the project, saying its growth strategy was focused on production of copper and by-products in the Americas. In an out of court agreement this year, Barrick Gold ended a long-running dispute with Pakistan, and agreed to restart development. Under the deal, the company withdrew its case in an international arbitration court, which had slapped a penalty of USD 11-billion on Pakistan for suspending the contracts of the company and its partners in 2011. Reko Diq represents one of the largest copper and gold reserves in the world having estimated reserves of 5.9 billion tonnes of ore grading 0.41% copper and gold reserves amounting to 41.5 million oz. The Reko Diq area is part of the Tethyan Magmatic Arc, extending through central and southeast Europe (Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece) Turkey, Iran and Pakistan through the Himalayan region into Myanmar, Malaysia, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. It contains wealth of large copper-gold ore deposits of varying grades.
