$900m okayed for Chilean firm to exit Reko Diq

After the Supreme Court endorsed a settlement deal worth over $6.5 billion last week, the government on Sunday approved a payment of more than $900 million to the Chilean firm Antofagasta over six years to exit the Reko Diq project. The committee also green-lighted about $1.91bn shareholder financing by state-owned enterprises (SOEs) to take the gold and copper mining project forward. The decisions were taken at a special meeting of the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet presided over by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar through video link from Lahore to meet deadlines for an out-of-court settlement with the Tethyan Copper Company to avoid a looming $10bn international arbitration award. The ‘definitive agreements’ are ready to be signed by Dec 15 under the settlement deal. Under the agreement, the government and its entities — the OGDCL, Pakistan Petroleum Limited and Govt Holdings Pvt Limited (GHPL) — have already deposited $900m in an escrow account for payment along with interest in six years to Antofagasta Minerals of Chile to exit the project.