MNN (Web Desk); Barrick Mining is seeking up to $3.5 billion in financing from the United States and other international lenders to develop a major copper mine in Pakistan, after anticipated funding from Saudi Arabia failed to come through.
Chief Executive Mark Bristow told the Financial Times the company is working on a “G7-country financing package” for the Reko Diq project in Balochistan. Potential partners include the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation, the US Export-Import Bank, the US Development Finance Corporation, the Asian Development Bank, and lenders from Germany, Canada, and Japan.
“There is strong interest in supporting Pakistan,” Bristow said, noting that the $9 billion project had drawn significant global attention. His comments came as Barrick — formerly Barrick Gold — posted net earnings of $811 million for Q2 2025, a 33% year-on-year increase driven by record-high gold prices.
The first phase of Reko Diq, jointly owned 50-50 by Barrick and Pakistan’s federal and provincial governments, is expected to cost $6.6 billion. Bristow said both partners would invest between $1.5 billion and $1.8 billion each, with the remainder — roughly $3 billion to $3.5 billion — to be raised through international limited-recourse financing.
Earlier talks with Saudi Arabia’s Manara Minerals, which aimed to acquire up to 20% of the project, ended without a deal. Production at Reko Diq is scheduled to begin in 2028, amid growing geopolitical competition for minerals critical to energy infrastructure and defense manufacturing.
US President Donald Trump has prioritised securing access to such resources, a stance shared by other Western nations. Bristow said any US funding for Reko Diq would give it access to copper concentrate from the mine, but the US still faced capacity constraints in smelting. “The challenge for the US is smelting capacity — it’s already fully booked,” he noted, calling for more domestic smelters to reduce reliance on metal imports from China.
In a separate interview with Reuters, Bristow clarified that Barrick is not acting as an intermediary between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan over the project, though Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund has held investment talks with Islamabad.
He also said the World Gold Council is awaiting US policy clarity on potential tariffs on gold bars, but stressed the impact on mining firms would be limited since they are “price takers.”
