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Riko dig gold mine: use $50 bln to pay off debt boot out IMF on Mon Jan 11, 2010 7:53 pm
littlekracker
Riko Diq Gold mine: Use $50 Billion to pay off debt boot out IMF
Posted on January 10, 2010 by Moin Ansari
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Reko Diq can be used to retire Pakistan’s total debt, break off the shackles of the IMF and throw out the Kerry Lugar Bill and its intrusive authors.
One of Mr. Zardari’s first acts in office was to replace the Chinese company’s contract on Riq Diq, and offer it to a company which had questionable contact in Israel and India. According to news sources, the Indian company’s contract has been canceled and it not being allowed to mine the gold.
Riko Diq (spelt different ways) is Pakistan’s Gold mine–both figuritively and literally. Estimates vary, but the amount of Gold is estmated between $35 billion and $100 billion.
It is a national calamity that after owning such wealth our compliant politicians beg foreign governments.
It is a catastrophy that Pakistanis don’t know about Riko Diq.
At a recent gathering of Pakistanis I was shocked to find out that a couple of well read and decent friends (though weaned on the BBC) had never heard of Riq Diq or Pakistans Coal Reserved (4th largest in the world)
In fact one person was so sure that Riq Diq did not exist that he scorned at the thought.
Pakistanis must take a stand on Riq Diq to pay off Pakistan’s debt and rid ourselves of foreign aid—which accounts for only 3% of Pakistani GDP.
Tightening belths by 3% will eliminate the curse of US Aid and it’s corrosive influence on Pakistani society.
We have published several stories about Reko Diq on RupeeNews.com
* Reko Diq Mystery: Why Americans are after Balochistan?
* Pakistan’s $100 billion Reko Diq gold mine
Rupee News reported on Reko Diq several years ago and then repeated the story several months ago. Reko Diq is a small town in Chagai District, Baluchistan which has the world’s largest Gold and Copper reserves. Reports emerging from various sources indicate that the mining rights to the US $ 1oo Billion natural deposit might have been sold to Tethyan Copper of Australia which has taken the contract to develop this mine while Barrick Gold Corporation of Canada and Antofagasta of Chile have a joint-ownership of the copper-gold deposit at Reko Diq.
The Reko Diq deposit is being explored by Tethyan Copper Company Pty Ltd (75%) and the (BDA) Balochistan Development Authority (25%). Tethyan Copper Company is held jointly (50:50) by Barrick Gold Corporation and Antofagasta Minerals.
It is a world class copper / gold porphyry style deposit, typical of the tethyan belt. Reko Diq is a giant copper and gold project in Chaghi, containing 12.3 million tons of copper and 20.9 million ounces of gold in inferred and indicated resources. The copper-gold deposits at Reko Diq are believed to be even bigger than Sarcheshmeh in Iran and Escondida in Chile. The Reko Diq copper deposits which is in the neighbourhood of Saindak copper project, is four times larger in copper ore tonnage than Saindak.. The most credible international surveys suggest that Reko Diq is one of the biggest undeveloped copper projects in the world with over 11 billion pounds of copper and nine million ounces of gold. So far, three foreign companies have purchased stakes in the strategic copper and gold assets setting off a cycle of ‘change of foreign ownership’ of Reko Diq copper project. Pakistan has only 25 per cent stake in the Reko Diq copper project. The rest of the 75 per cent stakes had first been transferred to BHP Billiton, the Anglo-Australian mining giant and then BHP Billiton under a ‘deed of waiver and consent’ transferred it to the Australian TCC and now TCC has sold its 19.95 per cent stake to Antofagasta Minerals.
Here is a story from today’s Dawn.com which leaves more questions than it answers.
QUETTA, Jan 9: A foreign company was granted a licence to explore copper and gold in the Reko Dik area but it was not allowed to mine the same, according to Balochistan Chief Minister Nawab Aslam Raisani.
Speaking to journalists in his chambers, he said the company had violated the contract, which had been signed only for exploring minerals.
Mr Raisani said the agreement had been terminated in the interest of the people of Balochistan, adding that his government would not allow any agreement which undermined people’s rights.
The chief minister said the federal government had not yet sought any explanation from the Balochistan government over the cancellation of the Reko Dik project. Meanwhile, a statement issued by a spokesman for the Balochistan government said the provincial cabinet in its meeting chaired by Chief Minister Raisani on Dec 24 had unanimously endorsed the Balochistan government’s stand on the termin-ation of the contract signed with the Tethyan Copper Company on the
Reko Dik Copper and Gold Project in Chagai district.
The provincial government, the statement said, would not work with the company beyond the exploration agreement. “Keeping in view the wishes and aspirations of the people of Balochistan, the elected provincial government is bound, morally and constitutionally, to safeguard the interest of its people and protect its resources from exploitation.”
He said the decision of the provincial cabinet relates to the termination of the exploration contract with the Tethyan Copper Company after it expired, while the fate of the company’s proposal for a mining agreement is yet to be decided.
Though the actual size of Reko Diq deposits is yet to be confirmed, experts believe they are bigger than at Sarcheshmeh in Iran’s Kerman province and at Escondida in Chile. With1.2 billion tonnes of resources, Sarcheshmeh is a large open-cast copper mine and is considered to be the world’s second-largest copper deposit. Escondida, with 57.6 million tonnes of resources, is the world’s highest producing copper mine.
Like Escondida, Reko Diq could become an important part of the national as well as provincial economy. In 2007, Escondida produced 1.48 million tonnes of copper, mainly as copper concentrate, worth $10.12 billion. As a result of extensive drilling in the Reko Diq area, about 167 million tonnes of copper ore reserves have been proved.
In the international market, each stage of copper production is tradable from copper concentrate, smelted copper and blister copper to refined copper or pure copper. Copper is currently being sold at an average price of US$4,000 a tonne in the world metal market.
With the exploitation of Reko Diq, Pakistan is poised to appear for the first time on the world’s copper-producing map. The government will launch the project with an investment of $1 billion by 2010, the Daily Times reported, citing an official document. The project is expected to create up to 9,000 jobs in the construction phase, which will last for about three years, then employ up to 3,000 people once the mine is operational. Tethyan initially plans to bring in mining experts from the outside while training and developing the local workforce
The Chinese engaged in the Saindak copper project are committed to transferring technology in copper mining and to training Pakistani engineers and workers.
The wealth from Reko Diq could enable Pakistan to retire its external debt and liabilities, which have surged to $50.9 billion. Economically backward Balochistan province could also attain enough fiscal space and financial health to finance its social-sector development projects and run its financial affairs without relying on the central government.
The provincial government first signed a contract for Reko Diq exploration with the BHP Minerals in July 1993 and established a joint venture with the province holding a 25% interests and BHP Billiton 75% by virtue of a deed of waiver and consent signed in June 2000. Tethyan Copper Co, then a subsidiary of Australian Mincor Resources, held an alliance with BHP.
In 2000, Mincor Resources estimated that the Reko Diq region held 5 million tonnes of copper metal deposits and 32 million ounces of gold. Tethyan planned to start the Reko-Diq copper project in 2003 with an investment of $130 million. Antofagasta and Barrick Gold have since taken over 100% of Tethyan, which has reported total, indicated and inferred mineral resource estimates at its properties of 1.2 billion tonnes with a copper grade of 0.58% and a gold grade of 0.28 grams per tonne.
Critics have questioned why the authorities did not refuse the transfer of the Reko Diq project from the internationally reputed BHP Billiton to the Tethyan, which raised funds for the project by floating its shares in the Australian Stock Exchange after acquiring the project. They say that failure has deprived the country of a 75% stake in the vast untapped deposits.
BHP’s failure to make significant progress in exploring the copper resources had provided the government a chance to seek fresh offers for exploiting Reko Diq, the critics claim. Miners bank $3bn on Baloch project By Syed Fazl-e-Haider.
here is a manufactured and fake discussion going on among a section of the elite in Pakistan. The discussion centers around Swat and what it means for Pakistan. This is what “they” want us to be discussing. Bruce Reidel wants to “convince” the Pakistanis into abandoning Kashmir and the Eastern borders and fight America’s war on the Western front. Vice President Biden doesn’t want to talk about the covert CIA operation that are being carried on in Pakistan. Are these covert operations part of the convincing? Obama wants the Pakistanis to carry on the White Man’s burden and murder the poor, and the destitute in the name of fighting “terror” or extremism or any othercliche du jure that they assemble.
The discussion is not between the secularists and the religious extremists anymore. After the amazing interview of Sufi of Malakand, now the ‘disucsison’ is between the pious religious parties and the Malakandis.
This was one of the great advantages of the peace deal. The Sufi is now totally exposed. The “emperor of Malakand” has no clothes.
The real issue is the Ralph Peters map, and the wealth of Pakistan which lies under the ground of Balauchistan and other areas. We have gathered some snippets from various sources to help our readers understand the jig saw puzzle of West Asia.
THE RALPH PETERS PLAN vs. THE PAKISTANI PLAN: Two visions…..
If the EU can come about through peace and economic progress so can the Muslim Union which is not a caliphate nor brought about by war, nor as a threat to anyone.
THE RALPH PETERS PLAN FOR THE GREATER MIDDLE EAST—All Muslim countries balkanizedMany believe that the USA will go to war to protect the war.Ralph Peters printed this in the DOD journals.It is quite possible that the pages were taken from a Soviet plan: Afghanistan’s Ordeal Puts a Region At Risk,” by James B. Curren and Phillip A. Karber (BDM Corporation, McLean, VA/a subsidiary of Ford), and published in U.S. Armed Forces Journal International, (pages 78-105) March 1985 (Source: Mr. Bashir A. Syed is a retired American Aerospace Physicist of Pakistani descent and a member of several eminent professional associations including the New York Academy of Sciences. ahmadquraishi.com)
The Pakistani plan
Pakistani flagPakistanNATO can be sent on extended leave. All Pashtun areas have to be securedExtending the boundaries from the Indus to the Amu Darya will bring peace to South AsiaPakistan is envisioned as such
Unite! Erase the Durand Line
Solution: Fixing “AfPak” expedites the inevitable union between Pakistan & Afghanistan
The emerging “Leave Pakistan to Afghanistan” strategy goes mainstream–Extricating the US from the Lost in the KhyberWeakening Pakistan’s Central Government
Posted on January 10, 2010 by Moin Ansari
Rate This
Quantcast
Reko Diq can be used to retire Pakistan’s total debt, break off the shackles of the IMF and throw out the Kerry Lugar Bill and its intrusive authors.
One of Mr. Zardari’s first acts in office was to replace the Chinese company’s contract on Riq Diq, and offer it to a company which had questionable contact in Israel and India. According to news sources, the Indian company’s contract has been canceled and it not being allowed to mine the gold.
Riko Diq (spelt different ways) is Pakistan’s Gold mine–both figuritively and literally. Estimates vary, but the amount of Gold is estmated between $35 billion and $100 billion.
It is a national calamity that after owning such wealth our compliant politicians beg foreign governments.
It is a catastrophy that Pakistanis don’t know about Riko Diq.
At a recent gathering of Pakistanis I was shocked to find out that a couple of well read and decent friends (though weaned on the BBC) had never heard of Riq Diq or Pakistans Coal Reserved (4th largest in the world)
In fact one person was so sure that Riq Diq did not exist that he scorned at the thought.
Pakistanis must take a stand on Riq Diq to pay off Pakistan’s debt and rid ourselves of foreign aid—which accounts for only 3% of Pakistani GDP.
Tightening belths by 3% will eliminate the curse of US Aid and it’s corrosive influence on Pakistani society.
We have published several stories about Reko Diq on RupeeNews.com
* Reko Diq Mystery: Why Americans are after Balochistan?
* Pakistan’s $100 billion Reko Diq gold mine
Rupee News reported on Reko Diq several years ago and then repeated the story several months ago. Reko Diq is a small town in Chagai District, Baluchistan which has the world’s largest Gold and Copper reserves. Reports emerging from various sources indicate that the mining rights to the US $ 1oo Billion natural deposit might have been sold to Tethyan Copper of Australia which has taken the contract to develop this mine while Barrick Gold Corporation of Canada and Antofagasta of Chile have a joint-ownership of the copper-gold deposit at Reko Diq.
The Reko Diq deposit is being explored by Tethyan Copper Company Pty Ltd (75%) and the (BDA) Balochistan Development Authority (25%). Tethyan Copper Company is held jointly (50:50) by Barrick Gold Corporation and Antofagasta Minerals.
It is a world class copper / gold porphyry style deposit, typical of the tethyan belt. Reko Diq is a giant copper and gold project in Chaghi, containing 12.3 million tons of copper and 20.9 million ounces of gold in inferred and indicated resources. The copper-gold deposits at Reko Diq are believed to be even bigger than Sarcheshmeh in Iran and Escondida in Chile. The Reko Diq copper deposits which is in the neighbourhood of Saindak copper project, is four times larger in copper ore tonnage than Saindak.. The most credible international surveys suggest that Reko Diq is one of the biggest undeveloped copper projects in the world with over 11 billion pounds of copper and nine million ounces of gold. So far, three foreign companies have purchased stakes in the strategic copper and gold assets setting off a cycle of ‘change of foreign ownership’ of Reko Diq copper project. Pakistan has only 25 per cent stake in the Reko Diq copper project. The rest of the 75 per cent stakes had first been transferred to BHP Billiton, the Anglo-Australian mining giant and then BHP Billiton under a ‘deed of waiver and consent’ transferred it to the Australian TCC and now TCC has sold its 19.95 per cent stake to Antofagasta Minerals.
Here is a story from today’s Dawn.com which leaves more questions than it answers.
QUETTA, Jan 9: A foreign company was granted a licence to explore copper and gold in the Reko Dik area but it was not allowed to mine the same, according to Balochistan Chief Minister Nawab Aslam Raisani.
Speaking to journalists in his chambers, he said the company had violated the contract, which had been signed only for exploring minerals.
Mr Raisani said the agreement had been terminated in the interest of the people of Balochistan, adding that his government would not allow any agreement which undermined people’s rights.
The chief minister said the federal government had not yet sought any explanation from the Balochistan government over the cancellation of the Reko Dik project. Meanwhile, a statement issued by a spokesman for the Balochistan government said the provincial cabinet in its meeting chaired by Chief Minister Raisani on Dec 24 had unanimously endorsed the Balochistan government’s stand on the termin-ation of the contract signed with the Tethyan Copper Company on the
Reko Dik Copper and Gold Project in Chagai district.
The provincial government, the statement said, would not work with the company beyond the exploration agreement. “Keeping in view the wishes and aspirations of the people of Balochistan, the elected provincial government is bound, morally and constitutionally, to safeguard the interest of its people and protect its resources from exploitation.”
He said the decision of the provincial cabinet relates to the termination of the exploration contract with the Tethyan Copper Company after it expired, while the fate of the company’s proposal for a mining agreement is yet to be decided.
Though the actual size of Reko Diq deposits is yet to be confirmed, experts believe they are bigger than at Sarcheshmeh in Iran’s Kerman province and at Escondida in Chile. With1.2 billion tonnes of resources, Sarcheshmeh is a large open-cast copper mine and is considered to be the world’s second-largest copper deposit. Escondida, with 57.6 million tonnes of resources, is the world’s highest producing copper mine.
Like Escondida, Reko Diq could become an important part of the national as well as provincial economy. In 2007, Escondida produced 1.48 million tonnes of copper, mainly as copper concentrate, worth $10.12 billion. As a result of extensive drilling in the Reko Diq area, about 167 million tonnes of copper ore reserves have been proved.
In the international market, each stage of copper production is tradable from copper concentrate, smelted copper and blister copper to refined copper or pure copper. Copper is currently being sold at an average price of US$4,000 a tonne in the world metal market.
With the exploitation of Reko Diq, Pakistan is poised to appear for the first time on the world’s copper-producing map. The government will launch the project with an investment of $1 billion by 2010, the Daily Times reported, citing an official document. The project is expected to create up to 9,000 jobs in the construction phase, which will last for about three years, then employ up to 3,000 people once the mine is operational. Tethyan initially plans to bring in mining experts from the outside while training and developing the local workforce
The Chinese engaged in the Saindak copper project are committed to transferring technology in copper mining and to training Pakistani engineers and workers.
The wealth from Reko Diq could enable Pakistan to retire its external debt and liabilities, which have surged to $50.9 billion. Economically backward Balochistan province could also attain enough fiscal space and financial health to finance its social-sector development projects and run its financial affairs without relying on the central government.
The provincial government first signed a contract for Reko Diq exploration with the BHP Minerals in July 1993 and established a joint venture with the province holding a 25% interests and BHP Billiton 75% by virtue of a deed of waiver and consent signed in June 2000. Tethyan Copper Co, then a subsidiary of Australian Mincor Resources, held an alliance with BHP.
In 2000, Mincor Resources estimated that the Reko Diq region held 5 million tonnes of copper metal deposits and 32 million ounces of gold. Tethyan planned to start the Reko-Diq copper project in 2003 with an investment of $130 million. Antofagasta and Barrick Gold have since taken over 100% of Tethyan, which has reported total, indicated and inferred mineral resource estimates at its properties of 1.2 billion tonnes with a copper grade of 0.58% and a gold grade of 0.28 grams per tonne.
Critics have questioned why the authorities did not refuse the transfer of the Reko Diq project from the internationally reputed BHP Billiton to the Tethyan, which raised funds for the project by floating its shares in the Australian Stock Exchange after acquiring the project. They say that failure has deprived the country of a 75% stake in the vast untapped deposits.
BHP’s failure to make significant progress in exploring the copper resources had provided the government a chance to seek fresh offers for exploiting Reko Diq, the critics claim. Miners bank $3bn on Baloch project By Syed Fazl-e-Haider.
here is a manufactured and fake discussion going on among a section of the elite in Pakistan. The discussion centers around Swat and what it means for Pakistan. This is what “they” want us to be discussing. Bruce Reidel wants to “convince” the Pakistanis into abandoning Kashmir and the Eastern borders and fight America’s war on the Western front. Vice President Biden doesn’t want to talk about the covert CIA operation that are being carried on in Pakistan. Are these covert operations part of the convincing? Obama wants the Pakistanis to carry on the White Man’s burden and murder the poor, and the destitute in the name of fighting “terror” or extremism or any othercliche du jure that they assemble.
The discussion is not between the secularists and the religious extremists anymore. After the amazing interview of Sufi of Malakand, now the ‘disucsison’ is between the pious religious parties and the Malakandis.
This was one of the great advantages of the peace deal. The Sufi is now totally exposed. The “emperor of Malakand” has no clothes.
The real issue is the Ralph Peters map, and the wealth of Pakistan which lies under the ground of Balauchistan and other areas. We have gathered some snippets from various sources to help our readers understand the jig saw puzzle of West Asia.
THE RALPH PETERS PLAN vs. THE PAKISTANI PLAN: Two visions…..
If the EU can come about through peace and economic progress so can the Muslim Union which is not a caliphate nor brought about by war, nor as a threat to anyone.
THE RALPH PETERS PLAN FOR THE GREATER MIDDLE EAST—All Muslim countries balkanizedMany believe that the USA will go to war to protect the war.Ralph Peters printed this in the DOD journals.It is quite possible that the pages were taken from a Soviet plan: Afghanistan’s Ordeal Puts a Region At Risk,” by James B. Curren and Phillip A. Karber (BDM Corporation, McLean, VA/a subsidiary of Ford), and published in U.S. Armed Forces Journal International, (pages 78-105) March 1985 (Source: Mr. Bashir A. Syed is a retired American Aerospace Physicist of Pakistani descent and a member of several eminent professional associations including the New York Academy of Sciences. ahmadquraishi.com)
The Pakistani plan
Pakistani flagPakistanNATO can be sent on extended leave. All Pashtun areas have to be securedExtending the boundaries from the Indus to the Amu Darya will bring peace to South AsiaPakistan is envisioned as such
Unite! Erase the Durand Line
Solution: Fixing “AfPak” expedites the inevitable union between Pakistan & Afghanistan
The emerging “Leave Pakistan to Afghanistan” strategy goes mainstream–Extricating the US from the Lost in the KhyberWeakening Pakistan’s Central Government