QUETTA: Balochistan Chief Minister Dr Abdul Malik Baloch, during a briefing organised for parliamentarians and media, has revealed that the provincial government is hiring foreign experts to retender Reko Diq for the sale of copper and gold deposits.
He said that the provincial government is working with a different approach and the best deal will be considered, adding “We will soon issue new tenders after the Tethyan Copper Company (TCC) gave up its demand for the leasing rights on Reko Diq.”
The chief minister said that things were at an initial stage and nothing had been finalised so far. He rejected allegations by some opposition leaders that the government had accepted millions of rupees in commission for giving the project to TCC.
The TCC, a joint venture between Chile’s Antofagasta and Canada’s Barrack Gold, had initiated arbitration against governments of Pakistan and Balochistan in 2011 on mining licence dispute.
The TCC was granted exploration licence in 2006. It owned a 75 per cent stake in the project and the Balochistan government 25pc. Reko Diq holds an estimated 5.9 billion tons of mineral resources with an average copper grade of 0.41pc and gold 0.22 grams per ton.
