Reko Diq Mine

The Reko Diq Mine is a planned mining operation, located near Reko Diq town in Chagai District, Baluchistan, Pakistan. Reko Diq represents one of the largest copper and gold reserves in the world having estimated reserves of 5.9 billion tonnes of ore grading 0.41% copper and gold reserves amounting to 41.5 million oz, and a mining life of at least 40 years.

The Reko Diq area is part of the Tethyan Magmatic Arc, extending through central and southeast Europe (Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece) Turkey, Iran and Pakistan through the Himalayan region into Myanmar, Malaysia, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. It contains wealth of large copper-gold ore deposits of varying grades.

The eastern and central sections of the belt are well recognized hosting world class mineralization such as Grasberg mine, Batu Hijau in Indonesia, Ok Tedi Mine in Papua New Guinea and Sar Cheshmeh in Iran. Whereas in the eastern Europe it hosts world class porphyry/epithermal cluster of Bor, Majdanpek in Serbia and more recent developments include Skouries and Olympias Greece, and Çöpler in Turkey.

Reko Diq area is one of many eroded remnant volcanic centers in the Chagai volcanic chain of mountains which runs in an east–west line across Balochistan between the Quetta-Taftan Line railway and the border with Afghanistan. TCC, Tethyan Copper Company, has identified a large, low-grade copper-gold resource at Reko Diq.

In January 2023, Bristow and the Chief Minister of Balochistan signed a memorandum of agreement which specified the timetable for the disbursement of committed funds to the province, including advance royalties and social development funds, ensuring that the people of Balochistan start earning benefits from the project well before the mine goes into production, including releasing the first advance payment of $3mn to the Government of Balochistan.

During peak construction by the Toronto based Barrick Mining Corporation, the project is expected to employ 7,500 people and once in production it will create 4,000 long-term jobs during the expected 40-year life of the mine. The production is expected to begin in 2028. In April 2025 the International Finance Corporation (IFC) disbursed a $300 million loan to Pakistan for the Riko Diq project, and in June 2025, the IFC released another $700 million.