ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – Pakistan’s supreme court on Friday endorsed a settlement with Barrick Gold to resume mining the Reko Diq, one of the world’s biggest copper and gold deposits sites in the country’s southwest, a court order showed.
The short order was read out by the Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial, who headed a five-person panel. A Reuters reporter was present in the court.
Barrick Gold ended a long-running dispute with Pakistan, agreeing to restart developing the mining project under an out of court agreement earlier this year.
Under the deal, Barrick Gold withdrew a case from an international arbitration court, which had slapped an $11 billion penalty against Pakistan for suspending contracts of the company and its partners in 2011.
The court endorsement was a condition of the settlement to resume mining, that will invest $10 billion.
(Reporting by Asif Shahzad; eEiting by Jason Neely and Raissa Kasolowsky)
