Executives from Saudi Arabian miner Manara Minerals are in Islamabad, Pakistan, to continue talks about buying a stake in the country’s Reko Diq copper-gold project, reported Reuters.
The news agency noted that Barrick Gold, which owns the project jointly with Pakistan, considers it as one of the world’s largest underdeveloped copper-gold areas. Located in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province, Reko Diq is expected to have a life of at least 40 years as a truck-and-shovel, open pit operation.
Manara’s acting CEO Robert Wilt told Reuters in an interview in January that the company was in talks to potentially buy a stake in the Reko Diq mine. Bloomberg had reported that Manara was initially interested in investing $1 billion to take a minority share in the mine.
Manara Minerals is a joint venture between state-owned Saudi miner Ma’aden and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.
Source: Reuters