ISLAMABAD: Antofagasta Copper Company of Chile Marcelo Awad has informed the government that the Reko Diq Project in Chaghai district of Balohistan has two billion tonnes of copper deposits.

President of Antofagasta Copper Company (ACC) of Chile Marcelo Awad, who along with Chief Executive Officer of Tethyan Copper Company of Australia Hugh James called on the Federal Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources Ahsanullah Khan here Wednesday and briefed him about the copper reserves. They exchanged views on investment potential in the mineral sector with the Federal Minister.

During the meeting, the President of Antofagasta Company briefed the Minister about the updated progress on Reko Diq Copper Project in Chaghai District of Balochistan Province being undertaken by the Antofagasta Joint Venture. Marcelo Awad informed the Minister that the Reko Diq Project involves multi-billion dollars investment and has two billion tonnes of copper deposits. He said that the company had so far invested $46 million on the development of the project and efforts were underway for the speedy commissioning of this mega copper project.

The Minister said that the government was keen to develop the mineral sector on modern lines and providing attractive package of incentives to the investors to boost mineral development activities in the country. He said the government was taking concrete steps to ensure availability of infrastructure pre-requisite for the successful mineral exploration.

The Minister said that annual production of 250,000 tonnes of copper from Reko Diq project would not only bring Pakistan on the world copper map but also help strengthen its economy.


http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?p...17-1-2008_pg5_7

I wish we had the skills and expertise at home so that our companies and people could directly benefit from these riches. This country is blessed with natural resources!

We would need constitutional, iron-clad guarantees that Balochistan would be the primary benefactor if such reserves would be exploited.

This is our most naturally resourceful province - and the least under-developed. Any seperatist sentiments would die out if Balochistan saw development on the scales of Punjab and Karachi.

i agree, any money made should be spent in that province, to let the people know they are pakistani too.

i read sometime ago that copper deposits in Balochistan are very close to the ground surface and all what needs to be done is to pick them up.

I wonder why we need foreign companies for that...

Thats not the case we require the drilling. Pakistanies do have skills we have great geologists with us. But Pakistan do not have money for the projects thats why we need forign compnies for investment.

thats just over $1 billion a year worth of copper production.

I am very angry that all natural resources of Pakistan are being plundered by Foreign bastar-ds and ordinary people of Pakistan are left with nothing!! Pathetic, Pathetic, Pathetic!!!

dude you don't understand, this investments cost alot of money, once all the infrastructure is in place and something happens to pakistan like sanction we can nationalize everything :P

I do understand it dude.....but once again what is the use of any investment if the fruits of that investment are not going to Ordinary people?? Isn't it giving away your precisous resources to foreign bastar-ds for free??? The government has an absolutely pathetic policy and this policy only benefits the foreigners and the corrupts in Islamabad!!!

only news... nothing will happend...

Yep, heard that one b4...

Because its not as simple as 'picking up copper off the ground'. You need drills, other machinery, a lot of money. But I agree, it should be done by a local company, but I rather have it done by a foreign company (from China) then not have it done at all.



Copper prices are (at the moment) around $7050 per ton, so lets say we sell for $7000 a ton. That would be around $1.75 billion worth of production. And with 2 billion tonnes in that deposit (the estimate), with 250,000 ton production a year, the deposit will last 8000 years (thats a really long time, did I make an error?).



The project is already under development.

A foreign company is better then none at all.

There is a significant section on this forum and in Pakistan would like to see this fail so they can start blaming someone.

"If I was ruler of the country, everyone would be crouching over copper toliets"

NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO..... Plzzzz No more Chineese in Pakistan. Take it from me I worked for Saindak Copper Gold project and They even Imported their sweepers from China. China Policy of Importing even Dogs from china. I know them Very Much. Look at Saindak the ratio of Pakistani man power and chineese are 60:40.

you are right about china bringing in it's own people do to the work because i have read several times how they are brining in there works in africa also instead of hiring locals. I also read that in Saindak project chinese are taking more of the minerals than they are suppose to take and nobody is checking on them. I think the main problem here is that nobody else seems to be willing to the amount of risk chinese are willing to take so there's very little recourse than them.

That is the reason why Pakistan GOVT didnt gave Ricodik to CHineese when they were very intrested I my self saw their EOI for Ricodick.

Ausi COmpany is lot better.

what is the Ricodik. I never heard of it, can you explain it little futher. Thanks

According to Wikipedia:

"Reko Diq is a small town in Chagai District, Balochistan, Pakistan. World's 5th largest gold and copper reserves are found in Reko Diq. Tethyan Copper Company of Australia has taken the contract to develop this mine. 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 Balochistan Development Agency (25%). Tethyan Copper Company is held jointly (50:50) by Barrick Gold Corporation and Antofagasta Minerals.

Currently the deposit is at scoping / pre feasibility stage. It is a world class copper / gold porphyry style deposit, typical of the tethyan belt."

it should be held 50% by the governmenet and 50% by the mining company instead of 75 25, but if that remains the case the government needs to make sure the mining company uses some of the profits to build hospitals and schools in the area etc. force them to invest in the people

Nah, it if it was up to me I would go for 35% for the company and 65% for government... We should be the main benefactor. Besides, I endorse protectionism! Do you think that if we had the resources and skills to extract deposits the Australians would've let us enter their market at the current ratio? The fact that Chinese and Indians are still facing huge opposition in Western markets should be enough indication.

I'd just wait and invest in a state-owned enterprise with a private management system and extract the resources for 100% local use...we're poor now, and using outsider means isn't going to make us very rich. Just pull off a PAC/HIT/KSEW with a state-owned resource-extraction firm...

Natural resources and defence should be public UNTIL private PAKISTANIS can compete.

It's a shame that our private sector is unable to capitalize. I fully agree that the mining sector should be run by a state-owned firm. The state-owned firm should also distribute for local use and export the resources.

They eat dog so I don't see why they'd export any of them to Pakistan.... (correct me if I'm wrong on the 'dog' part).



You can't force the company to build hospitals and schools... thats the job of the government or some non profit organization. You should however encourage (through incentives, pressuring etc.) that the company reinvest locally (in Pakistan), with other industrial projects etc. Though any reasonable company would already have that in their plan (thats if we can provide a stable investment platform, aka a stable country).


BTW, no one confirmed my '8000 year' calculation...

Tax revenue will be the key in this development and local employment. Forget the nationalistic pride factor, this company will have to work with other companies, which are most likely being from Pakistan. From transport to catering.

Yea! Someone who is actually using their mind!

Damn we have mining expert right here in this board, things are so simple just multiply two numbers and they paid millions to outside consultants for this

Well its not that hard. Let me make it simpler for you:

Pretend I have 50 apples to sell. I want to sell them (or I am able to sell them, because of resource restriction) at a rate of 5 per day. Now also pretend the price per apple is $1. How much is my total sales per day? (Hint: 5 apples per day sold at $1 each) It would be $5 worth of sales. Now at the rate of selling 5 apples per day, how many days can I last selling apples (with my current supply of apples, which would be 50)? (Hint: Divide 50 by 5) Your supply will last 10 days.

Of course that is much simpler then it actually is, but then again I'm just giving rough estimates and am asking people to correct them if they are wrong in any way (not just criticize like you did).

you are good at it, go back to your family business of selling apples
now remember why you had to sell your thela??, becuase you though $5 per day is all your profit, your kid brain didnt realize that out of $1 an apple selling price 80c was your cost.

You just need to cool down now... I've already once told you not to have a go at brothers on PDF. If you have any personal grudge or whatever sort it out via PM. We may all have a different opinion, but that shouldn't be reason for abuse and disrespect. I hope you understand my point.

I didn't say $5 was my profit dumb@ss, I said that $5 would be my total sales per day. Learn how to read, then come back. (And I said total sales for my copper numbers as well).

You know, although its a heartening news to hear that we have more dicoveries of natural resourses. I get equally furious and angry abt it as well. Why? Because eventhough the discovery would be benificial for Pakistan, it is those spineless bureaucrat b@$t@rd$ who would inevitably usurp whatever money that Pakistan would make. We have an abundance of human and natural resources, its those corrupt bureaucrats that undermine and errode the progress of our country. If can ever catch these $wine$, i would beat their bodies to a pulp and leave them to rot in the open. Its people like them who have ruined it for rest of us Pakistanis.

If you want ot change the system go on join it. No point spewing your views on the internet. I am not saying you can become a big politician however you can represent the local community as a leader or a member of a party.

At the end of the day if you want to contribute to Pakistan then go the extra mile, politically, socially, economically etc . Cynicism doesn't do no one a favor.

mangla dude--you are arguing for the sake of argument and nothing more!!

Once again, THE FRUITS OF THESE NATURAL RESOURCES ARE NOT GOING TO ORDINARY PEOPLE AND THEREFORE such projets should only be carried out if the foreign companies are giving very good returns to the government!! This is OUR WEALTH--not the freaking wealth of Chinese or Australians or US or any other bast-dards hell bent on stealing this wealth!! AT the moment only the thugs and basta-rds sitting in islamabad are getting TO STEAL THIS WEALTH BY GIVING out projects to these foreign thugs!!

So a few of the people here who are arguing that it is good thing should seriously have their brains checked because they have no freaking clue what are they are supporting! They should realise this copper and gold don't GROW ON TREES SO ONCE THEY ARE GONE--THEY ARE GONE FOR GOOD!!

50% of all exporting companies are foreign owned and 80% of the total export value is by these companies.

Which country I am talking about?

Letting in foreign companies to do this type of work is not a good thing but it is not necessary bad.

On the issue of government not using the money properly and being incompetant is a different issue altogether. If Islamabad and pakistanis are incompentant how can we expect them to run a mine project! (rhetorical question) Edit -hint of sarcasm too.

Generally, I have been reading up on the chinese copper and gold mine. They pay 500,000 dollars annually (rent) to government plus govt takes fifty percent of the exports proceeds go to government. However they are exceeding quoter.

Quit sucking you thumb, and if you dont quit using this language i will really teach you new things about insults. consider this last warning kid

you told me, who the heck made you Abba jan on this board.
do you think there is something productive being written down in these forum, I just come here to laugh on people's stupidities, now I know most of these idiots are just kids, otherwise if this wisdom is coming out of our adults I am scared of brain drain effect on our society

dudes look at the reality, if the forign companies dnt come here THESE RESOURCES WILL BE BURIED UNDER THE GROUND FOREVER they might be taking away our resources but look at the benefits that they bring to us, they boost our exports, provide employment and MOST OF ALL PAY FOR THE CONTRACT, WHICH GOES INTO BILLIONS OF DOLLARS PER YEAR all this money will be used to develop pakistan unless the politians dnt put it in ther pockets

LOL Don't be pissed... I like your cocky attitude kiddo, keep it up!

my cocky attitude, what do you expect when you come here and read a high school kid calculating copper production of more than a billion ton and calculating total income Pakistan will have from this. Does he have any idea what a billion ton is. Saindak mines have annual production of copper which is less than 20,000 tons. Then praising govt for doing this, this is our wealth and if we cant take it out leave it for our future generation or do we think our future generation will as lame as we are. We are just giving it away for pennies, Chinese are believed to be taking lot more than they were contracted for and do we have resources to monitor them NO.

I fully agree as I'm of the same opinion!

No point debating with some members why because they use nationalist slogans. If you counter their argument they call you unpatriotic, what kind of argument is that?

I pulled up some facts but they were ignored. How convieniet.


Heres another Aussie company analysing copper diposits. Read the links contents, even the boring parts.


http://www.lakeresources.com.au/

Lastly, one thing about foreign companies they do take their time. That annoy's me.

Oh I'm scared now...




I was basing the numbers off of the article brought up, not off your bullsh!t numbers.

Well I respect your views brother, you're entitiled to them and as a fellow Pakistani I would hear them out loud. I respect my fellow countrymen and respect their views on pdf. As for goin and joining it .... I don't believe there is any need to tell anyone what a person has contributed to his country, by talking about it. One loses the whole purpose of contributing in the process. So I wouldn't talk of what I've done, rather ..... lets just say I am in the system and am contributing to whatever extent Allah has given me the ability to do so.

And btw, speaking from where i'm coming from ..... brother, no offense, but one whose been a part of it, knows that these bureaucrats are the biggest bunch of crooks who're ruining it for the rest of us. One whose in the system, knows that it is these very bureaucrats, who are corrupt and are with corrupt politicians. The two make a disgusting combination and that is a fact that if anyone denies, is either a part of that bureacracy or is political goon for one of those corrupt politicians.

In the brother, being in there and grappling with all the problems .... the only thing I can say is, that we need unity ..... alot of it and unity that is indestructable and which is powerful enough to empower our great country.

It does not need to be in politics but I get your point.

Respect

People in Pakistan have the advantage of knowing the situation and what measure little or big need to be done. Outsiders like me do not have info on the issues particular local situation. We have to rely on journalists, who I dispise.

Antofagasta Copper Company of Chile has so far invested 46 million dollars in Reko Dig Copper Project in Chaghi and efforts are underway for the speedy completion of this mega project.
Sources said that Chilean mining company, Antofagasta and Australian Tethiyan Copper Company will jointly invest 150 million dollars in the project for exploration and production of copper. The annual production of 250,00 tons of copper from Reko Dig Project would not only bring Pakistan on the world copper map but also help to strength the national economy, sources said. President Antofagasta Company Marcolo Awad also briefed the Caretaker Federal Minister of Petroleum and Natural Resources Ahsanullah Khan about the progress on the project last week.
During the meeting the minister assured that the government was keen to develop the mineral sector on modern lines and providing attractive incentives package to investors to boost the mineral development activities in the country.
The minister assured that the government would welcome Chilean investor to participate in the mineral development activities in Pakistan for the mutual advantage of both the countries.

The only one behaving like stupid kid here is you. And you can always laugh when you watch your self in mirror and being the dumb@ss you are it won't be a problem.

A trade of commodity of equal value amount is recommended ....something needed in Pakistan, such as natural gas and flour. If we give them say even a million dollars worth (perhaps now Euro) of copper, we should attempt to get in a million dollars worth of flour, or any natural gas, or any other necessity that the other country posseses. So basically one cash contract in exchange for another cash contract. We should not just export...in a way, we should TRADE.

In order for this resource to be properly & economically mined, you need to invest hundreds of millions if not billions of dollars in infrastructure & training. That includes not only the mine setup but the roads / railway links to the mine area itself. these foreign investors would be footing 75 % that bill upfront. The federal government, let alone the Balochistan government doesn't have that kind of money lying around. Furthermore the Gov. can mandate that the foreign company create a partnership based subsidiary in Pakistan & keep a certain percentage of the profits inside Pakistan. It also enables the growth of anciallry industries. e-g Caterpillar & Komatsu may see this as an oppurtnity to invest in regional maintenance / assembly of their Eart moving / mining equipment. Also the development of niche subcontractors that specialize in certain things such has poisonous gas monitoring, evacuation etc. These foreign investors can a) bring in specialists from abroad that will charge them an arm & a leg or encourage local industry development.

If our laws and oversight are strict enough nobody is going to be plundering any natural resources. One thing I worry about is that I have not heard any thing about setting up ore refinining plants or extractors. If that is the case then its not good for the country as the ore would be shipped out at dirt cheap prices. However I am pretty sure that the Government of Pakistan would be the sole buyer of the gold extracted out of the mines.

This company actually has set up a subsidairy in pakistan under pakistani laws. Tethyan Copper Company Pakistan (Private) Ltd and a Mr Muslim Lakhani is the chairman.

Some of the friends on this forum had suggested that we should encourage local companies to explore & set up all of these project locally even if takes 50 years. This although a noble notion is not economically viable. First you cannot just acquire the technological skills over night it takes a long time which unfortunately is due to our own mis-management in the past 50 years. But the reality is that would you rather have your local company / government spending our money, botching up the whole project (incompetence & corruption on part of the goverment). Or rather have a company with a history of successful projects to undertake the whole project?


A bird in Hand is better than two in the bush.