ISLAMABAD – A $4 billion blow to Pakistan from the international front bythe Australian copper company over infamous Rekodiq case.
It asked a D.C. federal court Friday to confirm a damages award of morethan $4 billion issued against Pakistan in a dispute over the denial of amining lease in the country.
Tethyan Copper Company, which is jointly owned by Canada’s Barrick GoldCorporation and Chile’s Antofagasta PLC, said the $4.09 billion award wasissued by an International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputestribunal in July, following proceedings stemming from an alleged breach ofthe Australia-Pakistan bilateral investment treaty.
The Australia-incorporated TCC said that it entered into a joint ventureagreement with the government of Pakistan’s Balochistan province to explorefor copper and gold deposits with the expectation of being granted a mininglease.
But in 2011, the provincial government denied the application for a leaseto the Reko Diq mine, located in a remote area of the province. A requestfor arbitration was filed by TCC that same year.
The ICSID tribunal previously reached a decision on jurisdiction andliability in 2017, but did not rule on the amount of compensation owed byPakistan until July 12. In the liability decision, the tribunal found thatPakistan had breached its treaty obligations by not giving “fair andequitable treatment to TCC’s investments” and “effectively expropriatingthe value of TCC’s investment,” among other violations, according to thepetition.