By: Dr. Mirza Ikhtiar Baig (Medal of Imtiaz/Order of Merit):
One of the major projects that the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) is working on to bring foreign investment into Pakistan is a revolutionary concept of civil and military leadership working together, including the sale of shares in Pakistan’s Recodec to Saudi Arabia. . In this regard, Recodec’s shares have been valued by a global consultant and Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Barrick Gold are ready for the deal even though the war in Gaza has adversely affected the expected investment of 60 billion dollars in Pakistan from the Gulf countries.
Recodek is a very important project for the economic development of Pakistan on which I have written several columns. 22 billion pounds of copper and 13 million ounces of gold reserves are found in Rekodak, with a total value of 500 billion dollars, which is considered the ninth largest gold and copper reserves in the world. Australian company Titian (TCC) announced an investment of $3.3 billion for the Rekodic gold and copper mining project, which includes an airport, roads, housing, mineral mining and international market access to Gwadar.
It included the construction of a 682 km long transportation pipeline. According to the agreement, TCC was bound to give 25 percent of the revenue to the Balochistan government without any investment as the minerals are owned by the provinces, but a 3-member bench headed by former Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry ruled that Pakistan and T Thian Company On January 7, 2013, the agreement of July 23, 1993 was annulled and the mining license of the company was canceled, on which the issue was taken to the International Court of the World Bank, which imposed a fine of 6 billion dollars on Pakistan and a fine.
Pakistan’s foreign assets, hotels and airlines could have been seized in case of non-payment, but the PTI government later agreed to a mutual settlement and rehabilitation framework with the Recodec parties, which was approved by the Supreme Court in December 2022.
I confirmed. In the settlement agreement of the Supreme Court, 3 Pakistani companies OGDC, PPL and GHPL have paid 900 million dollars to the Chilean company Antofagasta, the previous partner of the Recodic project, to separate it from the project, after which Barrick Gold 50%, Pakistan and the Government of Balochistan. Agreed to complete the project with 50% shares.
Canadian company Barrick Gold had to bring in a new investment of 10 billion dollars to extract gold and copper from Rekodic, which will now be done by buying the shares of Pakistan and Balochistan government of Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund (PIF). The Saudi Investment Fund is investing in the mineral sector around the world and the investment in the Rekodic project in Pakistan is a link to that.
Due to the decrease in current foreign exchange reserves and external debt repayments, Pakistan’s financial situation is not suitable for new investment in the Rekodic project, so Pakistan has offered to sell its shares to the Saudi company, which Barrack Gold also agrees to.
After canceling the license of Rekodic project, some licenses for copper and gold mining were given to Chinese companies and under their project Sendak, from 2004 to 2008, 7,746 tons of gold, 86,013 tons of copper, 11,046 tons of silver and 14,482 tons of magnite were obtained. But due to lack of effective monitoring system, the country could not benefit from this mineral wealth.
Currently, among the countries rich in natural minerals in the world, Russia ranks first, America ranks second, Saudi Arabia ranks third, Canada ranks fourth, Iran ranks fifth, China ranks sixth, Brazil ranks seventh, and Brazil ranks eighth. Australia, Iraq at number nine and Venezuela at number ten are rich in oil, gas, gold, copper, coal and other mineral resources.
Allah Ta’ala has also enriched Pakistan with numerous mineral resources but it is our misfortune that even after 76 years we have not been able to benefit from this natural wealth and today our people are worried about two meals a day. Apart from gold, copper, and silver, Allah has given us 175 billion tons of coal reserves in Thar, which is more than the total oil reserves of Saudi Arabia and Iran, but even today we extract this black gold from the ground and generate energy.
They could not, but they are forced to import coal. This is the situation of Rekodic project which was started on July 23, 1993 and despite the passage of 30 years, mining could not be started in this project, but due to the establishment of Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) and the personal support of Army Chief General Asim Munir. With interest and efforts, it is hoped that this important mineral mining project will be completed, God willing.
