The Supreme Court on Friday declared the agreement signed between the government and Canadian Barrick Gold Corporation for the development of Balochistan’s Reko Diq mine as “legal.”
Announcing the unanimous verdict on a presidential reference seeking the court’s opinion on the agreement, Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial said the Constitution does not allow legislation against national assets, but the provinces are free to alter laws related to minerals. “There is nothing illegal in the new agreement,” reads the 13-page verdict, adding that the new deal is not in violation of the top court’s 2013 verdict on the mining project.
According to the court ruling, the new agreement did not harm the environment. It also noted that the Balochistan Assembly had been briefed on the deal and the elected lawmakers had not raised any objections to it. “As per the Reko Diq agreement, most workers will be Pakistanis. This is not for a single person but for Pakistan. There is nothing illegal in this agreement,” it said, noting the Barrick Gold Corporation had given assurances that it would fully implement all labor laws and fulfil its social responsibility.
“The foreign investment bill is not exclusively for Barrick Gold. The foreign investment bill is for companies that will invest more than $500 million,” said the court.
Balochistan Chief Minister Mir Abdul Quddus Bizenjo welcomed the ruling, describing it as “historic.” In a posting on Twitter, he said the verdict acknowledged the Balochistan government’s “determination and efforts for the economic independence of the province and protection of its resources.”
Reko Dik agreement
In March, the federal government announced that Barrick Gold had entered into a new agreement for the development of Reko Diq, stressing that it would create 8,000 new jobs for the people of Balochistan. In a statement, the mining company said it would operate the project, adding that Pakistan would grant it a mining lease, exploration license, surface rights and a mineral agreement “stabilizing the fiscal regime applicable to the project for a specified period.”
Barrick Gold had stressed that the deal would be “fully transparent and involve the federal and provincial governments, as well as the Supreme Court of Pakistan.” Subsequently, the government had said that the company would retain 50 percent of the shares in Reko Diq, while the remainder would be divided between the federal government and the Balochistan government.
In October, President Arif Alvi, on the advice of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, had filed a reference in the Supreme Court seeking its input on the deal in accordance with Barrick Gold’s statement. In his reference, the president had asked the apex court to weigh in on whether the Government of Balochistan or Government of Pakistan could enter into an international agreement as per the Supreme Court’s ruling in the Molvi Abdul Haq vs. Federation of Pakistan case of 2013; and whether the proposed Foreign Investment (Protection and Promotion) Act, 2022 was in accordance with the Constitution.