Saudi Arabia’s Mining Minister Bandar Alkhorayef said that mining company Manara Minerals is considering an investment in Pakistan’s Reko Diq mine. The Saudi Development Fund (SDF) could contribute over $100 million to Pakistan’s mining infrastructure.
“Part of what we are looking at is how we can help Pakistan also in some infrastructure,” Alkhorayef said in an interview on the sidelines of the Future Minerals Forum in Riyadh.
“Without that infrastructure, the economics of the deal are not attractive, so through the Saudi Development Fund we are thinking about how we can finance it.”
On Tuesday, Pakistan’s Petroleum Minister Musadik Malik expressed optimism about Manara Minerals’ potential investment in Reko Diq.
“I’m very hopeful that in the next quarter or two we will have very big announcements,” Malik said on the sidelines of the Future Minerals Forum in Riyadh, adding these developments would primarily focus on copper mining, including the Reko Diq project and surrounding areas.
“So we’re very hopeful that this year, we will make some big announcements, both in the way of Reko Diq, but hopefully also” in mines around it, Malik added.
Asked if Manara would be involved, he said, “why not, of course.” Pakistan is also in talks with other Gulf countries about mining opportunities, Malik said.
Executives from Manara visited Pakistan in May last year for talks about buying a stake in the Reko Diq mine, considered one of the world’s largest underdeveloped cooper-gold areas by global mining company Barrick Gold, which owns the project jointly with Pakistan.
Manara’s then-acting chief executive Robert Wilt, now CEO of Ma’aden, told Reuters that a stake in Reko Diq was among several opportunities the company was evaluating.
Manara, a joint venture between state-controlled miner Ma’aden and the $925-billion Public Investment Fund (PIF), was set up as part of the kingdom’s efforts to diversify its economy away from oil, including by buying minority stakes in assets overseas.
