Barrick Gold to be Granted New License for Highly Controvesial Reko Diq Project

The Canada-based mining company, Barrick Gold Corporation, will be issued a new license for mining in Balochistan’s Reko Diq region after its previous one was canceled.

In this context, Chief Justice (CJ), Umar Ata Bandial, presided over a five-member larger Supreme Court (SC) bench, constituting Justice Munib Akhtar, Justice Ijaz-ul-Ahsan, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, and Justice Yahya Afridi, which heard the case on a presidential reference of the project.

During the hearing, Additional Attorney General (AAG), Aamir Rehman, briefed the SC about the license’s cancelation and issuing of a new one and advised the government to maintain transparency in the project.

He further informed the bench that the apex court had declared the previous contract for mining the site null and void, and added that Pakistan’s $10 billion penalty imposed by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) will be resolved, once the $900 million payment arrangement with the Enterofista company is signed.

Moreover, AAG revealed that there are only twelve mineral exploring and mining companies in the world, which also includes Barrack Gold, and remarked that mining firms did not approach Pakistan to assume the Reqo Dik project despite the loss of Barrack Gold’s license due to the court ruling

He maintained that the previous license had several flaws, which have been addressed in the new one. On the occasion, Justice Munib Akhtar termed the $10 billion penalty as a nuclear bomb and said that it could have detrimental effects on the country.

Via Express Tribune