Saudi Arabian mining company Manara Minerals could invest in Pakistan’s Reko Diq mine in the next two quarters, Pakistani Petroleum Minister Musadik Malik said on Tuesday.
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.
“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 they would be copper-related.
“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, he added.
Asked if Manara would be involved, Malik said, “why not, of course.”
Manara did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
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.
Pakistan is also in talks with other Gulf countries about mining opportunities, Malik said.
(By Pesha Magid and Yousef Saba; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
