ISLAMABAD: President Dr. Arif Alvi has asked the Supreme Court whether the new agreement on the recoded gold and copper mining project in Balochistan was legally protected under the Constitution of Pakistan and international arbitration.
In a major reference filed in court on Tuesday, the President also asked the apex court whether the proposed Foreign Investment (Protection and Promotion) Bill, 2022, whenever enacted, would be a valid law under the Constitution. .
The presidential reference comes a month after the federal cabinet approved the filing. Dr Alvi filed it under Article 186 of the Constitution, which deals with the advisory jurisdiction of the Supreme Court and says that if the President feels that a question of law is of public importance and requires the opinion of the court. So they can send it to the Supreme Court.
Canadian company Barrick Gold, which in March ended a long-running dispute with Pakistan to develop a mining project under a new deal, had earlier asked the government to put the agreement before parliament and the Supreme Court. Get the seal from the court so that the investment of the company in this project can be made sustainable. long term.
Canada’s Barrick Gold, which owns half of the gold and copper mining venture, had earlier asked the government to get Parliament and the Supreme Court to seal the deal.
Under the out-of-court agreement, $11 billion in fines and other liabilities against Pakistan will be waived by a World Bank arbitration court, and Barrack and its partners will invest $10 billion in the project. will do
Consortium Tethyan Copper Company – of which Barrack and Chile’s Antofagasta each controlled 37.5 percent – found extensive gold and copper deposits at Rekodak in Baluchistan. However, the hugely profitable open pit mine project stalled in 2011 when the local government refused to renew Tethyan Copper’s lease, and was struck down by the Supreme Court in 2013.
In 2019, the World Bank’s Arbitration Tribunal Committee fined Pakistan for illegal mining concessions. After a decade-long legal battle, Pakistan announced an out-of-court settlement with Barrack Gold in March. Antofagasta agreed to withdraw from the project.
Once the Supreme Court gives its verdict in the current reference, the Recode parties are expected to implement the agreement, which would see the Balochistan and Sindh Assemblies and possibly other provinces handing over some powers to the federal government. including the passage of resolutions, which will eventually enact the draft Foreign Investment (Promotion and Protection) Act, 2022.
Similarly, Tethyan Copper Company, which will be renamed Rekodic Mining Company (RDMC), will be provided with tax benefits under certain legislation to protect it from arbitrary withdrawal by administrative action.
The new project company will be half owned by Bark Gold. The remaining half shareholding will be owned by Pakistan, divided equally between the federal government and Balochistan.
RDMC will also be granted two mining leases for a total of 164 square kilometers for 30 years, renewable for equal periods. It will also be issued an exploration license for approximately 312 square kilometers and a surface lease for 643 square kilometers.
The development is expected to be developed in two phases. In the first phase, likely to take five years, $4.2bn will be invested to establish processing capacity in the range of 40 million tonnes per annum. The second phase, taking four years, will see a $3.3bn investment to double processing capacity.
The need to extract and exploit Recodec’s resources for the benefit of the people of Balochistan and Pakistan has never been more pressing, the reference emphasized as the country continues to recover from the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. Recovering from economic shocks is what Pakistan needs. A significant foreign debt has been incurred to finance basic government services.
He said the recent devastating floods had also put unprecedented pressure on the government and its people had faced particularly serious problems, including unemployment, widespread poverty and little business activity.
Therefore, it said, the proposed restructured Rekodic project represents a unique opportunity to improve the economic condition of Balochistan and help reduce poverty and deprivation in the province.
The project will also provide long-term employment benefits to Balochistan by offering training and upskilling programs and will create approximately 7,500 jobs during peak construction for the project and an estimated 4,000 long-term jobs. In which priority will be given to the residents of Balochistan.
Before construction begins, the province will receive advance royalty payments of up to $5 million in the first year, $7.5 million in the second year and $10 million each year thereafter until commercial production begins, up to a maximum of $50 million. is subject to Advance royalty payments
