Copper-gold project: SC moved to resume Reko Diq case
The Supreme Court has been moved to resume the hearing of the Reko Diq case to “block the Tethyan Copper Company’s effort to frustrate the laws of the land through international arbitration”.
Tethyan filed arbitration proceedings in Washington and Paris a few days ago in order to protect its legal rights, according to its CEO Tim Livesey. Tehthyan, exploring gold and copper deposits in the Reko Diq area, opted for arbitration after the Balochistan government turned down its application for granting a mining lease on November 16.
The project, which is estimated to eventually cost more than $3 billion, is expected to generate a huge amount of foreign direct investment into the country. Tethyan is a joint-venture between Chile’s Antofagasta and Canada’s Barrick Gold.
On May 5, 2011, the SC had allowed the government of Balochistan “to expeditiously decide Tethyan’s application for granting the mining lease. The court had already heard several applications against the legality of the agreement between the company and the Balochistan government.
“It is necessary that the court declares illegal the agreement between the Balochistan government and the Tethyan Copper Company,” the latest application by the members of Jamaat-i-Islami and the Workers Party stated through their counsel Raz Kazim. Through his application in the SC, Kazim is seeking an early hearing of the case.
Kazim informed the SC that Tethyan wants to avoid Pakistani law and the authority of the judiciary to enforce the laws governing the Reko Diq. He fears a negative result for his clients: “The international arbitration tribunal will have no option but to give a decision in favour of the Tethyan, which can be safely assumed to be billions of US dollars,” Kazim said.
Kazim added that such a decision would force the government to surrender to Tethyan’s demands. He said in an international arbitration, the tribunal has no power to adjudicate upon the application of the constitution of Pakistan and the laws governing CHEJVA – the agreement between the Balochistan government and the Tethyan.
Talking to The Express Tribune, Kazim said the Tethyan would lose justification for arbitration if the SC held the agreement invalid. The court has not held any hearing since May, but is keeping the case pending for a decision upon submission of a report on the outcome of the decision on Tethyan’s application.
Balochistan Advocate General Amanullah Kanrani said that a report on the rejection of Tethyan’s application had been submitted to the court as required. Tethyan’s application has been rejected because it did not submit the entire report on its survey of the leased land, he said, adding that where Tethyan has filed for arbitration, it hopes for a negotiated settlement with the government of Balochistan to starting mining the multi-billion dollar copper and gold fields of Reko Diq.
When contacted, Supreme Court Registrar Fakir Hussain said the court would resume the hearing of the entire case in due course. The report shall also be taken up, he added.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 6th, 2011.
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@Cautious: Very well Written if the company will do the project this will be a bench mark for the mine industry in Pakistan, The other Investors will also come. And this will be gate way for the development of Balochistan.
@Al - Knowing. One applies for exploration and development rights knowing that they may end up finding nothing --- you don't start out with any guarantees. However - once you spend the hundreds of millions of dollars to find something then you have the right to develop it - no one gets to come in after you took all the risk and "outbid" you. Pakistan doesn't have a right to cheat this company out of it's money - which is why they are afraid of having anyone outside of Pakistan review this case.
@everyone First TCC said Reko Diq had around $5billion of gold to Baloch govt. whilst telling their own shareholders that the just surface value was closer to $270billion not including what else is underneath. That is fraud in any country. Second everyone should know Barrick Gold has Israeli investors, I think that it should tell you more about their ethics and their real interest in Pakistan. Also Chinese mining has offered a substantially better deal and will build the smelting plant in Pakistan so all Gold and Copper ores will stay in Pakistan for processing. With TCC they will take it away from Pakistan for processing so only they will knowhow much they are taking - this will be the greatest robbery in the history of mankind if they get away with it. Also if this company gets staying rights I guarantee they will have a much better chance of trying to create Balochi separatists to fight Pakistan federal govt. Hopefully you can appreciate the scale of the decision, and so needs to be taken with all of Pakistan's legal and strategic interests in hand.
@The Common Man:
Or maybe they just want to get their just returns for the untold amounts they invested in exploration of the reserves?
Tethyan seems a little too keen to get this project, why?? maybe the reserves shown in the feasibility study are not reported on the low side and there is much more to be extracted. If the Gocvernment of Balochistan has the capacity or the vision to undertake this project on their own, more power to them.
An agreement signed between the prevoius governement and Tethyan can be considred nul and void if theere were any laws that were broken. Looking at the history of Barrick Gold, we know that they are not the most law abiding compan in the world. They have done some really bad things to some really good indigenous people. We have to realize what is good for the country and what is not, and then stick to it.
The agreement was signed by a previously elected Balochistan Government with the company. It will be hard for the SC to declare that agreement as illegal, unless the company broke a law in getting the government to sign. Without any evidence of corruption, nullifying the agreement would nullify the legality of the previous government.
@Umer: What is in Reko Diq that Tethyan is so keen to get its hands on? Now I’m curious. There's gold and copper worth billions.
What is in Reko Diq that Tethyan is so keen to get its hands on? Now I'm curious.
“The international arbitration tribunal will have no option but to give a decision in favour of the Tethyan, which can be safely assumed to be billions of US dollars, . That would imply that this is an open and shut case and that any independent party is going to side with the investors - that would also imply that your just trying to extort and abuse this investor.
Give it TOP PRIORITY Justice Saheb