Saudi firm to buy stake in Reko Diq, says kingdom’s investment minister
On Thursday, Saudi Minister for Investment Sheikh Khalid Bin Abdul Aziz Al Faleh announced that Manara Minerals, a Saudi company, is preparing to purchase a stake in Barrick Gold’s Reko Diq gold and copper mine within the next few weeks.
Barrick Gold currently holds a fifty percent stake in the Reko Diq mine, located in Pakistan, while the remaining is shared between the governments of Pakistan and Balochistan.
Barrick views Reko Diq as one of the largest undeveloped copper-gold deposits globally.
In August, Barrick Gold’s CEO expressed the company’s openness to partnering with Saudi Arabia’s wealth fund in the Reko Diq project.
Speaking at the Pakistan-Saudi Arabia Business Forum in Islamabad, Minister Al Faleh announced: “We have formed a new venture called Manara between PIF and Ma’aden, our national mining champion. They are keen to pursue several initiatives, with the first being their entry into the Reko Diq project alongside Pakistan’s state-owned enterprises, which we hope to finalize soon.”
He further noted that Barrick Gold, already active in Saudi Arabia, viewed the partnership as enhancing the project, describing it as a “pilot project” with potential for future expansion.
