After local court’s ruling TCC stopped to operate on the mine.
High Commissioner of Canada to Pakistan Greg Giokas said that the prime concern for Canadian investment in Pakistan was its legal protection. Pointing towards the Reko Diq project, Giokas said that the Canadian company involved in the disputed Reko Diq project was opting for international arbitration, which will likely be held in February 2014.
Tethyan Copper Company (TCC) – a joint venture between Canada’s Barrick Gold and Chilean miner Antofagasta – he said had worked for years to explore copper and gold deposits under the contract with the Pakistani government and to prepare a feasibility study worth $400 million for project’s development.
He opined that in the international arbitration courts there it was highly likely that the case will go against Pakistan. He said that after local court’s ruling TCC stopped to operate on the mine. The high commissioner was of the view that the said company invested enormous time, efforts and investment in Reko Diq. Pakistan’s federal’s and provincial government’s conduct was inappropriate; therefore other Canadian investors were concerned on protection of their investment in the country.
However, Canadian embassy’s representative assured that Canada was supportive to Pakistan and sees it as a land of immense natural resources, potential and strength. He was of the view that the world was also well aware of the potentials of Pakistan.
“Both countries maintain friendly political relations. However, foreign investment was dropping in Pakistan as investors were primarily concerned about transparency, legal protection of investment, instability and security in the country,” he said, while talking to the leaders of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry in a meeting.
Giokas said that Canada can offer expertise on agriculture and railways. Canada Pacific Railway can bid for locomotives required by Pakistan Railways.
Earlier, the Canadian high commissioner hosted a roundtable with the faculty of University of Agriculture Faisalabad to explore the possibilities of cooperation in the agriculture, dairy and livestock sectors.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 29th, 2013.
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COMMENTS (6)
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@ Usman
You are technically right, but the thing to note here is that when one say Reko Diq, the only available data comes up (which you quoted I believe is) with H14 & H15 deposits (which is just the 6% in area of the whole Reko Diq prospect area).
The GOP / GOB has initiated to work on H4 deposit which is far fairly less than H14 & H15 deposits.
Now, do not forget that Reko Diq (H14 & H15) actually emanating from ‘The Chagai Belt’ which has only recently revealed its true potential with the discovery of a world-class deposit at Reko Diq (H14-H15).
The Chagai Belt is defined by 48 porphyry systems with copper-(gold, molybdenum)…and Reko Diq is ONE of the systems that have been studied….now may be H14 & H15 will be the biggest among rest of the 48 systems…..just may be………because nobody explored the whole BELT yet.
......Reko Diq is just the ‘tea party’ my friend, the dinner is will be served in due time. Inshallah.
(Allah has blessed this unforgiving nation)
I have just collected some information regarding Reko Diq and tried to work out the value of copper reserves in Reko Diq: How I worked is as follow: Its only Copper (Gold not included) 5.9 billion tone of Copper Ore with 41% concentrates. It becomes 2.42 billion tones of copper. Current market rate of copper is $7000. Current Value of Copper of Reko Dik is $17,346 Billion.
Correct me if I am wrong
Thanks
Usman Nawaz
@Touseef:
Pakistan will win easily. TCC has lost its case on 'Interim Measures' both in jurisdiction of the International Chambers of Commerce (ICC) and the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) as mentioned by Asad khan as well. They are seeking compensation and they will suffer another defeat. They provided misleading information and their partner BARRICK GOLD CORPORATION is renown for it's Human Rights violation globally.
"....it was highly likely that the case will go against Pakistan"......?????
Respected High Commissioner, TCC already lost its case on 'Interim Measures' both in the jurisdiction of the International Chambers of Commerce (ICC) and the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) and further it has withdrawn its appeal for 'specific performance / License' as well and now it is just seeking for monetary damages and lost profits, which will highly likely will go against TCC as well. And If, for sake of argument, the case will go against Pakistan even then it is a better deal for Pak because it leaves Pak free from the clutches of exploiter.
regards.
Pakistan will surely lose its case in international court. Pakistan always loses her cases because our people lake consistent policies when governments change policies change.
One of the major stumbling blocks in USA investment has been the lack of faith in Pakistan court systems -- all new agreements require disputes to be resolved using courts outside of Pakistan. The SC ruling on Reko Diq seems to validate their concern. The bottom line - you need international assistance to develop resources and no one wants to invest hundreds of millions of dollars only to have it stolen from them.