By Gurmukh Singh, IANS,
Toronto : As Pakistan turns to China after the killing of Osama bin Laden by US commandos May 2, Islamabad is likely to dump Canada’s Barrick Gold Corp. and grant the mining licence for gold-and-copper Reko Diq project in Balochistan to the Chinese.
Toronto-based Barrick Gold Corp. , along with Chile’s Antofagasta, has spent years in exploring the precious metal in the mine, according to a report from Islamabad Tuesday.
The Reko Diq mine holds vast deposits of gold and copper and a feasible study says it will take half a century to extract its reserves.
“Analysts say the risk that a Chinese company could scoop up the license grew dramatically this month when US commandos shot Osama bin Laden. In the political aftermath of the raid, Pakistan abruptly turned away from the West and renewed its friendship with China,” according to the report in the Globe and Mail Tuesday.
The report said the Pakistani military “appears to view the mine as a bargaining chip when dealing with China, which supplies weapons and nuclear assistance to its neighbour.”
It quotes Talal Akbar Bugti, Baloch tribal leader who controls the mine territory, as telling a Canadian delegation recently, “You (Canada) have a problem. Pakistan’s military wants the Chinese as strong allies, and our mines will get offered up to keep them happy.”
The report also quotes former Pakistan Planning Commission member Shaukat Hameed Khan, who discussed the mine with Chinese officials, as saying that “The Chinese want Reko very badly.”
According to Khan, China would lobby for Reko Diq with Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani who is in Beijing now. In exchange for mining rights, China could offer to help Pakistan develop its own processing capacity.
“Because of the global situation, many people feel that Pakistan is being hit on the head a little too much (by the United States), and we run to the Chinese. The Chinese take advantage of this, but we’re pushed into the Chinese arms,” the report quoted Khan as saying.
Though accounting for about five percent of Pakistani population of nearly 180 million, Balochistan holds most of the country’s mineral and gas wealth.
(Gurmukh Singh can be contacted at [email protected])