Murgah
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The original ruling was very unfair. Either the world bank grew a conscious or Washington intervened because of Pakistan's help on the Taliban peace talks.
Its was kind of pointless since Pakistan has always wanted political dispensation in Kabul to be negotiated with the Taliban having a seat. Musharraf said as much to Bush 20 years ago.The pressure (RekoDiq / FATF / IMF) that the US had piled on Pakistan to get Taliban to the negotiating table...
The original ruling was very unfair. Either the world bank grew a conscious or Washington intervened because of Pakistan's help on the Taliban peace talks. Very good for Pakistan. The gold copper reserves were valued any where from 300 Billion to 1 Trillion USD based on reports. With all this global currency debasement, the value will only go up.
I haven't done any detail research myself but those are the numbers that I have ran across in various articles. The ore body is verified but not fully explored. You must also realize it costs money to run the mines and process the ore. Plus it will not be extracted in one year. We shouldn't assume that money will be in our pocket tomorrow.That’s 2-3x the GDP of Pakistan. I don’t believe in these sorts of outlandish claims. Most claims made by journalists without any scientific or objective data to backup the claims.
So Pak should show one of the arbitrators Alexandrov is corrupt proven by Spain and hence annul the award? Will it be this easy?Pakistan wins stay over $6 billion penalty in Reko Diq case
AGP office terms the development a ‘success’ for Pakistan, its legal team
Hasnaat Malik
September 17, 2020
The Reko Diq district in Balochistan is famous for its mineral wealth, including gold and copper. PHOTO: FILE
The Reko Diq district in Balochistan is famous for its mineral wealth, including gold and copper. PHOTO: FILE
ISLAMABAD:
The World Bank's International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) has granted a stay on the enforcement of the massive penalty of $6 billion imposed on Pakistan for its decision to deny a mining lease for the Reko Diq project to Australia's Tethyan Copper Company (TCC).
The office of the attorney general for Pakistan in a statement described the development as a success for the country and its legal team.
In July last year, an international arbitration tribunal of the ICSID had slapped a penalty of $6 billion on Pakistan for its 2011 decision to deny the mining lease to the TCC -- a 50-50 joint venture of Barrick Gold Corporation of Australia and Antofagasta PLC of Chile.
The tribunal – chaired by Germany's Klaus Sachs and including Bulgarian arbitrator Stanimir Alexandrov and the UK's Lord Hoffmann had ordered Pakistan to pay over $4 billion in damages to the TCC in addition to $1.7 billion in pre-award interest.
The tribunal found that Pakistan had unlawfully denied the TCC a lease to mine copper and gold deposits at the Reko Diq mine, located in Chagai district of Balochistan. It held that the state had committed an unlawful expropriation under the Australia-Pakistan bilateral investment treaty.
Later, the TCC approached five different countries courts for the enforcement of the penalty imposed on Pakistan.
In November, Pakistan moved a plea before ICC for annulment of the award on several grounds. When the country's plea was registered, an interim stay was granted automatically on the enforcement proceedings initiated by the TCC.
A hearing to confirm the stay order took place via video link in April this. On Wednesday, the tribunal finally ruled in favour of Pakistan, confirming the stay on the enforcement of the award.
The ICSID is still considering Pakistan's appeal against enforcing the penalty over its cancellation of the Reko Diq mining lease and a final hearing will take place in May next year.
Reko Diq is famous for its mineral wealth, including gold and copper. Prime Minister Imran Khan's government considers it a strategic national asset, though instead of yielding a bonanza the Reko Diq mines have cost the country dearly owing to ongoing international litigation with the TCC.
The quantum of the award is same as the bailout package granted to Pakistan by the International Monetary Fund. If enforced, the award will result in serious economic repercussions for the country. Seen in this context, the stay is a success and major relief for Pakistan.
In June this year, Spain had persuaded an ICSID committee to annul a €128 million award in favour of a solar power investor on the basis of arbitrator Stanimir Alexandrov's failure to disclose a longstanding professional relationship with one of the claimant's expert witnesses from the Brattle Group.
The tribunal that imposed the penalty on Pakistan included Alexandrov as an arbitrator.
Source