For years, Pakistan has marketed the Reko Diq copper-gold mine as a “transformational" project destined to uplift Balochistan.

Yet the deeper one looks, the clearer it becomes: Reko Diq, located in Balochistan’s Chagai district, is shaping up to be another Saindak – a different mega-project in the same district, rich in promise but barren in benefits for the people who live on the land being mined.

At the heart of the crisis lies lack of transparency. Despite being a $7 billion venture, the Reko Diq Mining Company (RDMC) has no official public website, no publicly listed Board of Directors, no CEO disclosure, and no accessible governance structure.

This is not a privately funded enterprise – it is a 50-50 partnership between Barrick Gold and the Pakistan government, financed in large by Pakistani taxpayers via Oil & Gas Development Company (OGDC), Pakistan Petroleum Ltd (PPL), Government Holdings (Private) Ltd, and the Balochistan government. Yet, the public has no information on how decisions are made, who signs off on major deals, or what safeguards exist for public wealth.

Such opacity erodes trust, especially in a province where decades of resource extraction have delivered almost nothing to local residents. The Saindak project generated billions in revenue for foreign operators and Islamabad, yet left Chagai’s communities mired in poverty. Those memories are fresh – and they shape the growing scepticism........

© News18