A Pakistani consortium NRL has stepped forward to develop the Reko Dig copper and gold mine in the Chagai district of Balochistan. Earlier in 2011, Pakistan’s top court turned down a proposal by Tethyan Copper Company (TCC) a joint venture between Chile’s Antofagasta and Canada’s Barrick Gold to develop this mine.
The Reko Dig mine in the southwest part of Pakistan is estimated to hold 5.9bn mt of ore grading 0.41pc copper and gold reserves amounting to 41.5mn Oz. According to reports, the deposits at Reko Dig are low-grade copper porphyry. According to earlier reports, its mineral portion of the deposits was calculated at 2.2bn mt, with an average copper grade of 0.53pc and gold grade of 0.30g/mt with an annual production estimate of 20,000mt of copper and 250,000 ounces of gold contained in 600,000mt of concentrate.
The Balochistan Mineral Exploration Company (BMEC) received a proposal from the National Resources Private Limited (NRL) to develop the Tanjeel reserves project and Reko Diq reserves, according to local media.
NRL is a consortium of Arif Habib Equity (Pvt) Limited, Mari Petroleum Company Limited, Liberty Mills Limited, Reliance Commodities (Pvt) Limited (Fatima group), YB Pakistan Limited (Lucky group), and South Western Mining (Pvt) Limited. The Balochistan government, Pakistan central government, and the concession holder of EL 199 (consisting of Reko Dig and Tanjeel Reserves) are part of the BMEC joint venture. The development of Tanjeel and Reko Dig will be done under the public-private partnership model.
Earlier, in July 2019, the World Bank’s International Centre for Settlement of Investment slapped a penalty of $5.84bn on Pakistan for its 2011 court decision to deny the mining lease to the TCC.
In Nov 2019, Pakistan appealed to ICC for annulment of the award on several grounds, As Pakistan’s plea was registered, an interim stay was automatically granted. In September 2020, the tribunal ruled in favour of Pakistan confirmed the stay on the enforcement of the award.
In November 2019, Pakistan moved a plea before ICC for the annulment of the award on several grounds. When the country’s plea was registered, an interim stay was granted automatically on the enforcement proceedings initiated by the TCC.