Pakistan approves $390 million plan to build 1,350 km rail track from Balochistan mines
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s top economic decision-making body on Thursday approved a bridge financing proposal worth $390 million to build a 1,350 kilometer railway track to transport exports from mines in the southwestern Balochistan province, the Finance Division said in a statement.
The Reko Diq mine, located in Pakistan’s largest and poorest Balochistan province, is among the world’s biggest untapped deposits of copper and gold, with the project estimated to generate $90 billion over the next 37 years. Long stalled by legal disputes and political wrangling, the project was revived after a 2022 settlement with Canada’s Barrick Gold. The Canadian company owns a 50 percent stake in the mine while the governments of Pakistan and the province of Balochistan own the other 50 percent.
Pakistan Railways Minister Hanif Abbasi told Arab News this week that the Reko Diq Mining Company (RDMC), a joint venture between Canada’s Barrick Gold and Pakistan’s federal and Balochistan governments, had agreed to provide $390 million bridge financing for a railway track from Rohri in Sindh to Nokundi in Balochistan province. He said the project would transport one million tons of copper annually, which otherwise would require over 28,000 truckloads each year.
