Reko Diq is a giant copper and gold project in Chaghi. The main license (EL5) of exploration is held jointly by the Government of Balochistan, Antofagasta Minerals and Barrick Gold. At present, the Government of Baluchistan has refused the license of mining to Tethyan Corporation (subsidiary of Barick Gold in Pakistan) for the Reko Diq project. The government claims that the corporation has not provided all the details in their exploration report and have not specified all the logistics. The case is currently in the appeal process at International Arbitration Committee after Supreme Court of Pakistan ruled in favour of Government of Baluchistan.
The pre-feasibility study, which is an evaluation of a proposed mining project to determine whether the mineral resource can be mined economically, was finalized in the third quarter of 2009, and work on the feasibility study was completed in early 2010.Barrick bought a stake in the Reko Dig copper-gold project in Pakistan for $100 million in February from Antofagasta PLC, a Chilean mining group within the same time. Despite challenges posed by the presence of al-Qaida in some of its regions, Wilkins said Barrick would be “very interested” in more projects there.
“Below the sands lie some 12.3 million tons of copper and 20.9 million ounces of gold. The copper-gold deposits at Reko Diq are believed to be even bigger than those of Sarcheshmeh in Iran and Escondida in Chile,” says Syed Fazl-e-Haider, a development expert on mining projects in Pakistan.
Barrick has a 50% interest in Tethyan Copper Company (the other 50% is owned by Antofagasta plc), which has a 75% interest in the Reko Diq project and associated mineral interests (for a resulting 37.5% interest in Reko Diq). As of December 31, 2008, Barrick’s share of measured, indicated and inferred gold resources is 8.5 and 8.4 million ounces respectively. Barrick’s share of measured, indicated and inferred copper resources is 11.5 and 8.5 billion pounds respectively.
A further 14 mineralized porphyry bodies are known to exist, with the potential to place the Reko Diq Project among the largest undeveloped copper resources on the globe. The Tethyan Copper Company has estimated annual production to be 200 to 500 million copper tonnes from the project. The Company started the Reko-Diq copper project in 2003 with an investment of US $130 million.
Balochistan itself is one of the minerally rich provinces of the country which have provided energy resources in the form of coal, natural gas, etc. Although it has potential, it remains as one of the impoverished provinces in the country where people have not been able to benefit from the incentives that similar deals have offered in the past. There are many advocates of such mega projects who claim that the Baloch have benefited from the trickle-down effect.
The project is faced with an acute shortage of water for having no surface flow. The expected mining operations in Reko Diq will depend on sub-surface water with the exploration of underground water potential in the region being a pre-requisite for any mining project.
Mining uses sodium cyanide, arsenic and other chemicals which produce toxic by-products. Gold mining itself dumps 79 tonnes of waste for every 28 grams of gold and produces 96 per cent of the world’s arsenic emissions. Considering a country where labour rights are not that strong and corporations have survived on the needs of poor communities, it might be another human rights violation disaster similar to Papua New Guinea, Chile and Australia, yet to be seen.
Although Tethyan Copper Corporation says that they are responsible for the whole project and will be employing locals who are experienced at the job to give back to the community, they have outsourced services to contractors such as Rockmore PVT LIMITED, Security 2000, Zia ul Haq & Company, Capital Drilling & Zain Drilling Company. In April 2008, Zain Drilling Company terminated the services of forty drilling assistants and recruited novices and non-locals. The AZAT Foundation has tried to protect their rights, and on June 14, 2008 a well-attended demonstration was held outside the Quetta Press Club.
Reko Diq is a small town in Chagai District, Balochistan, Pakistan, in a desert area 70 kilometres north west of Naukundi, near to the Iran-Afghan border. According to mineweb.com, Reko Diq is one of the largest reserves of copper and gold discovered so far.
