Qualla: Reko Diq Mine

Reko Diq Mine: Introduction

Wed, 25 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The name means "sandy peak" in Balochi, and from the air Reko Diq looks the part -- a cluster of eroded volcanic hills in the Chagai chain, their flanks bleached by sun and scoured by wind, indistinguishable from dozens of similar formations along the Afghan border. Beneath them lies an estimated 5.9 billion tonnes of ore containing copper and gold worth, by a 2025 feasibility study's reckoning, more than $60 billion. That figure has turned this remote stretch of western Balochistan into one of the most contested pieces of geology on Earth, a place where the interests of multinational mining corporations, national sovereignty, international arbitration courts, and the livelihoods of local communities have collided for over two decades.

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Reko Diq Mine: Geology of a Golden Arc

Wed, 25 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Reko Diq sits on the Tethyan Magmatic Arc, a belt of copper-gold mineralization that curves from southeastern Europe through Turkey, Iran, and Pakistan, then onward through the Himalayas into Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. This arc has produced some of the world's most productiv...

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Reko Diq Mine: The Deal That Unraveled

Wed, 25 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

In 1998, the Tethyan Copper Company -- a joint venture between Barrick Gold Corporation of Canada and Chile's Antofagasta PLC through the Luksic Group -- signed an agreement with the Government of Balochistan for exploration rights. Tethyan held a 75% interest; the provincial gov...

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Reko Diq Mine: Six Billion Dollars in Arbitration

Wed, 25 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Tethyan filed for international arbitration through the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, the World Bank's arbitration body. The ICSID tribunal ruled against Pakistan in 2017, rejecting a prior decision by Pakistan's Supreme Court. The tribunal calculate...

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Reko Diq Mine: Promises Beneath the Sand

Wed, 25 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

In January 2023, a memorandum of agreement was signed specifying advance royalties and social development funds for Balochistan, with the first payment of $3 million released to the provincial government. The International Finance Corporation disbursed $300 million in April 2025,...

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Reko Diq Mine: The View from Chagai

Wed, 25 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The Chagai Hills run in an east-west line across Balochistan, a chain of eroded volcanic remnants between the Quetta-Taftan railway line and the Afghan frontier. It is sparse, hot country -- the kind of landscape where the presence of billions of dollars underground feels almost ...

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