The Asian Development Bank has approved lending for a giant copper mine in Pakistan, joining a growing list of governments and financiers backing the critical minerals sector as the race for the materials intensifies.
Asia’s largest multilateral lender said on Thursday it had agreed to provide $300mn — its first mining loan in more than 40 years — for the Reko Diq gold and copper mine being jointly developed by Barrick Mining, Pakistan’s federal government and Balochistan province.
The $9bn project is the first mine financing the ADB has done since 1983, when it provided a $19.2mn loan for a project in Thailand. Barrick chief executive Mark Bristow told the Financial Times earlier this month that the company was seeking to raise up to $3.5bn for the project.