PNN – With the aim of deepening the economic influence in Pakistan, which at the same time opposes the country’s large-scale cooperation with China, America is seeking to invest in a multi-billion-dollar copper and gold mining project in Balochistan province of Pakistan.
According to the report of Pakistan News Network, the Pakistani newspaper Express Tribune in its report today quoted reliable sources and wrote that the Americans are seeking to grant a loan to the Pakistani side for the revival of large copper and gold mines known as the “Rico Deck Project” in Balochistan province.
The report states: The United States has expressed its willingness to provide loans related to a multi-billion-dollar gold mining project, which could be Washington’s first major investment in Pakistan in decades.
Citing government and diplomatic sources, the Tribune added that the US Export and Import Bank (Exim) has announced its support for the financing of a large mining project in Pakistan.
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This Pakistani newspaper wrote: Although the new feasibility studies for the Ricoh Deck project have not been finalized yet, the estimated cost is expected to be between 6 and 6.5 billion dollars.
Sources indicate that this project needs 3 to 3.5 billion dollars in financial credits, and it is not yet clear how much of this funding will come from the United States and how much from other foreign lenders, including the International Finance Corporation (IFC).
While America is looking for investment in Pakistan and supporting the economic reforms of this country, it has declared its opposition to Islamabad’s macroeconomic cooperation with China under the Pakistan-China Joint Economic Corridor project for more than a decade. At the same time, Pakistani government officials consider the joint economic corridor project with China to be strategic and inevitable for the development of their country.
The Reko Diq project in southwestern Pakistan, which hosts one of the world’s largest undeveloped copper and gold reserves, was suspended in 2011 after Pakistan denied permission to develop it from Brick Gold and Chile’s Antofagasta.
Based on this, 50% of the project belongs to the Canadian Brick Gold company. The remaining 50 percent of the shares belong to Pakistan, which is divided equally between the federal government and the state government of Balochistan.