Tethyan Copper Files For Arbitration Over Pakistan's Reko Diq

djones






LONDON (Dow Jones)--Joint venture Tethyan Copper Co. filed an international
arbitration proceeding Monday after the Pakistani provincial government of
Baluchistan refused to grant a mining lease to Tethyan regarding the development
of the massive Reko Diq gold-and-copper deposit.


Tim Livesey, the chief executive of Tethyan--which is equally owned by U.K.-
listed Chilean copper producer Antofagasta PLC (ANFGY, ANTO.LN) and Canada-based
Barrick Gold Corp. (ABX, ABX.T), said "We are disappointed we have not yet been
given the opportunity to resolve this by negotiation. We firmly believe that our
feasibility study and [mining lease application] submission are in accordance
with the Baluchistan Mineral Rules 2002, and that there should be no regulatory
or legal obstacle to the granting" of the lease.


"We have to initiate arbitral proceedings in order to protect our legal
rights, but we remain open to meeting with the Government of Baluchistan and its
regulatory body to work [toward] an amicable, negotiated resolution to the
dispute," he added.


Tethyan owns 75% of Reko Diq while the Government of Baluchistan owns the
remaining 25%. The government of Baluchistan, a Pakistani province that
neighbors Afghanistan and Iran, rejected the company's mining-lease application
last week on the grounds that it was incomplete, among other things.