Pakistani Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar has said his government hopes to conclude a deal by December for Saudi Arabia to buy stakes in Reko Diq, one of the world’s biggest gold and copper mining projects, in the first time Islamabad has officially confirmed it is considering selling shares.
Barrick Gold owns a 50 percent stake in the Reko Diq mine, with Pakistan’s federal government holding a 25 percent share and the regional government in Balochistan, where the reserves are located, owning the rest. Barrick considers the mine one of the world’s largest underdeveloped copper-gold areas, with the over $7 billion project capable of producing 200,000 tons of copper and 250,000 ounces of gold a year for more than half a century.
Barrick CEO Mark Bristow has repeatedly said the company’s stake wasn’t up for sale but it had no objection if Saudi Arabia wanted to buy out the equity of the Pakistan government, which would mean the South Asian country would no longer be able to maintain equal shares as the Canadian mining company. In a wide-ranging interview with Arab News on Monday, PM Kakar confirmed negotiations with Saudi Arabia to buy stakes in Reko Diq and said he was “hopeful” of a deal by December. Riyadh has not yet commented on its interest in the mining project.
“We are quite excited at the Saudi offer, and we would be very much encouraging their participation, not just in this project but otherwise also,” Kakar said when asked if it was acceptable to the Pakistan government to sell its equity to Saudi Arabia and lose out on holding equal stake in the mines.
“It is the negotiation part, which is happening between the three parties, and let’s see what sort of outcome comes of that … We are just a government that would encourage the Saudis to be part of this deal and the rest of the nitty gritty details, when they reach a certain decision, we’ll share the news.”
A joint venture by Barrick and Chile’s Antofagasta discovered the vast mineral deposits of Reko Diq more than a decade ago at the foot of an extinct volcano in the Balochistan region which borders Iran and Afghanistan. But Barrick’s license to mine the untapped deposits was canceled after the Pakistani Supreme Court in 2011 ruled illegal the award granted to the Canadian firm and Antofagasta.
