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Saudi development fund might invest $100m in Pakistan mining

Saudi minister of industry and mineral resources Bandar Alkhorayef says the kingdom wants to help Pakistan with infrastructure Reuters
Saudi minister of industry and mineral resources Bandar Alkhorayef says the kingdom wants to help Pakistan with infrastructure

Saudi Arabia might invest more than $100 million in Pakistan’s mining infrastructure through its development fund to scale up operations to meet demand. 

Minister of industry and mineral resources Bandar Alkhorayef also confirmed that mining company Manara Minerals, a joint venture between Saudi sovereign wealth fund the Public Investment Fund and miner Ma’aden, is interested in investing in Pakistan’s Reko Diq mine. 

“Part of what we are looking at is how we can help Pakistan also in some infrastructure,” Alkhorayef said in an interview with Reuters at the Future Minerals Forum in Riyadh.

“Without that infrastructure, the economics of the deal are not attractive, so through the Saudi Development Fund we are thinking about how we can finance it.”

Pakistan’s petroleum minister Musadik Malik said earlier this month that talks have been taking place with Saudi Arabia about a deal to acquire a 15 percent stake in Reko Diq mine, one of the world’s largest undeveloped copper and gold resources, for $540 million. 

The mine is 50 percent owned by Canada’s Barrick Gold, one of the world’s largest gold mining companies. 

Established in 1975, the Saudi Fund for Development is a government agency that provides soft loans and grants to finance social and infrastructure projects in developing countries.