Chilean-based copper leader Antofagasta will accept $US900M as the cost of withdrawing from its 50% stake in the Tethyan Copper JV with Barrick Gold over Pakistan’s Reko Diq copper-gold project.
Antofagasta’s exit is part of the in-principle agreement to end the standoff that has prevented development for more than a decade of a mine originally slated to produce 200,000tpa copper and 250,000ozpa gold.
The company says it decided not to participate in the reconstitution of Reko Diq because it no longer fits its growth strategy focused on copper and by-product production focused on Chile, Peru, the USA and Canada.