A recipe for disaster: the Reko diq copper mine in Balochistan, Pakistan

Some of the world’s biggest public development banks  — including the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB)  — are providing a total of over USD 3 billion to support a destructive copper mining project in Chagai district, Balochistan, a conflict-ridden region in Pakistan.

As copper is a key material for renewable energy technology, the mine is being promoted as a project that will drive the clean energy transition. However, the project is all but sustainable.

Located in an intensely militarised region, where civic space is extremely closed and where reprisals against civil society actors are systematic, the Reko Diq mine risks exacerbating social tensions, attacks against peaceful activists, water scarcity, and environmental and social destruction.

Useful links

• Joint CSO letter: “Human rights concerns around development finance-backed Reko Diq mining project in Balochistan” (May 2026)
• Joint CSOs letter: “Balochistan’s Reko Diq copper mine: Mineral extraction must respect human rights and the environment” (August 2025)
• UN experts urge Pakistan to address human rights violations in Balochistan (April 2025)

No space for dissent

Indigenous Baloch peoples have long asserted their right for self-determination and control over their natural resources. Rather than listening to their legitimate demands and respect their rights, the Pakistani government has responded with heavy political suppression, routine arrests, enforced disappearances and killings. 

On 22 June 2026, an Anti-Terrorism Court in Quetta, Pakistan convicted human rights defenders Mahrang Baloch and Sibghatullah Shahji – leaders of the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) – on charges of “terrorism, sedition, and murder” in connection to a protest organized by the BYC in 2024. BYC is a grassroots movement that has campaigned against enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, and ongoing human rights violations in Balochistan. BYC has also been raising concerns around the large-scale development and resource extraction projects in the region, which is often undertaken without the meaningful consultation and consent of the community or adequate environmental and social impact assessments.

In April 2025 alone, human rights advocates reported the enforced disappearance of 168 people and the extrajudicial killing of 67 people. This has also been accompanied by a broader crackdown against human rights defenders in the region. UN human rights experts have classified the situation as a “serious human rights violation and an international crime”.

Those who have raised concerns about the Reko Diq project previously, such as the Human Rights Council of Balochistan, have seen their members detained, in what UN experts classify as reprisals by state forces.

Local workers at the site have also faced labour violations. In one documented incident on 20 August 2023, it was reported that four Baloch Indigenous workers were fired by military-owned security guards hired by Barrick without explanation and forced to leave the Reko Diq camp. These young men were left to walk on foot for hours in 39°C heat, posing serious risks to their health and safety.

In such a context, it is virtually impossible for local communities to safely raise opposition to Reko Diq and participate in meaningful consultations, given the pervasive atmosphere of fear and repression across Balochistan.

Furthermore, evidence from Barrick’s operations in other contexts demonstrate that this is not a company that can be trusted to handle such a sensitive project with the required care. In the past, Barrick’s operations have been linked to cases of reprisals and human rights abuses. At the North Mara Gold Mine in Tanzania violence by police and private mine security allegedly led to several deaths, while in the Porgera Gold Mine in Papua New Guinea private security forces employed by the mine have committed abuse and sexual violence. These incidents, among others, raise serious questions about the ability of the company to treat the Reko Diq project with the sensitivity and thoughtfulness it deserves.

Conflict and militarization

The security situation in Balochistan has deteriorated significantly in recent years, with an increase in large-scale violent incidents affecting transportation networks, public infrastructure, and urban centres across the province. These incidents have resulted in the loss of life, injuries to civilians, and significant disruption to daily life for communities in the region.

At the same time, intensified security operations have also raised serious human rights concerns, with documented patterns and escalating instances of enforced disappearances, arbitrary detention, extrajudicial killings, and other abuses affecting local residents and human rights defenders. Together, these dynamics have contributed to a highly volatile environment that poses risks not only to infrastructure and economic activity but also to the safety, rights, and livelihoods of individuals and communities living in Balochistan.

Last April 2, 2026, Barrick Mining Corporation disclosed that they are slowing down activity and reviewing security risks around the Reko Diq project in Balochistan, Pakistan until mid-2027.

Latest incidents

Recent incidents illustrate the severity of the security challenges.

• In November 2024, a suicide bombing at a railway station in Quetta killed at least two dozen people and injured many more, marking one of the deadliest attacks in the city in recent years.
• In March 2025, armed attackers halted a passenger train after damaging railway tracks and opened fire on the train, leading to a hostage situation and a major military operation. The incident resulted in at least 31 deaths, including soldiers, railway staff and civilians. Soon after, a suicide car bombing struck a convoy transporting security personnel, killing at least seven people and injuring others.
• In May 2025, an explosive attack targeting a school bus killed at least 10 people, including several children, and injured more than 50 others.
• On 31 January 2026, a series of large-scale coordinated attacks across multiple districts, including Quetta and Gwadar, resulted in the deaths of more than 30 people, including civilians and security personnel, and triggered extensive security operations across the province.

Militarization of the project area

The Reko Diq project area has been heavily militarized, with both public and private security forces guarding the site. According to the Security Services Framework Agreement, the government has deployed the Frontier Corps Balochistan and Levies (which has been recently merged with the Balochistan Police), while the Reko Diq Mining Company (RDMC) has employed the private services of Askari Guards Limited, which has ties to the Pakistan military.

The RDMC has taken on the responsibility of training and ensuring that security forces adhere to international human rights and security standards, including conducting due diligence when deploying members of the armed forces. However, there are serious concerns about the poor human rights track record of the security forces deployed at the mine.

In February 2025, Barrick Mining reviewed the project’s security arrangements. This entailed allocating a significant amount of money — a total of Rs 1.79 billion (approximately USD 6.4 million) – for the deployment of security around the project site. The government says this would support the establishment of a dedicated Frontier Corps to guard borders with Iran and Afghanistan, as well as strengthening its intelligence network in the name of security.

The proposed security arrangement reportedly “aims to safeguard” mineral extraction and investments, thereby further militarizing the region, particularly Chagai, the host district of the Reko Diq project. With the amount of influence and control of the security forces over the project, the local Baloch have raised concerns regarding the militarization of their land. This has already contributed to intensified conflict and unrest, as Baloch movements continue to challenge the control over their territories and resources.

The presence of military and security forces has also contributed to a climate of fear, given the role that the Levies, Police and Frontier Corps have played in arresting, disappearing, and killing Baloch people in order to suppress dissent. Information around attacks, arrests and disappearances against the Baloch people, as well as the location of detention facilities, is rarely disclosed.

Specific security incidents related to the Reko Diq mine

Baloch activists, such as Sabiha Baloch, have warned that it was only a matter of time before armed Baloch insurgents would organise an attack against the project, considering the uptick in violence in the region and the fact that the project was moving forward amidst the opposition of the Baloch community.

• On 30 November 2025, as reported by The Diplomat among others, a suicide bombing coupled with an armed attack targeted a compound housing foreign staff and engineers working for the Saindak and Reko Diq projects in the city of Nokkundi. The Balochistan Liberation Front claimed responsibility for the attack.
• As reported by local media, on two separate occasions over the weekend of 23 November 2025, Pakistani security forces abducted and forcibly disappeared two Reko Diq employees. Both were taken from the company’s vehicles.

The project developer, the Reko Diq Mining Company, informed the ADB that one of the employees was eventually released while the other was put on trial, but that the disappearances were “unrelated to the project and were carried out by a wing of law enforcement outside the project’s Security Framework Agreement.” However, there is no information on where the detained employee is being held, what charges he is facing, and under what conditions the other employee was held. This is extremely concerning, given the well-documented and systematic abuses by Pakistani security forces targeting ethnic Baloch, including arbitrary detention, torture, forced disappearances, and extrajudicial executions. Local and international CSOs are concerned about the detained employee’s conditions and whether his right to a fair trial is being respected.

For Reko Diq Mining Company in particular, questions arise about what it is doing to ensure the safety of Indigenous Baloch employees, and whether they can work without fearing being arbitrarily targeted by the authorities. As one local news report pointed out, the Security Services Framework Agreement between Reko Diq and the Pakistan government entrusted the Balochistan Frontier Corps with “apprehending illegal immigrants and countering terrorist activities, including securing the Reko Diq project.” Local and international human rights organizations reported the Frontier Corps was responsible for most of the abductions in Balochistan, including 56 cases out of 107 enforced disappearances reported by the Human Rights Council of Balochistan in January this year. This clearly indicates a risk for collusion of Reko Diq security with other Pakistani security services targeting the Baloch people.

• On 13 March 2026, Balochistan Liberation Front (BLF) fighters temporarily detained personnel of a “mineral exploration company” at the Wadh area of Chagai, damaged their vehicle and seized their weapon. While the personnel were released safely, BLF has warned that such instances will continue unless mineral exploration and extraction of natural resources in Balochistan is ceased immediately. As mentioned in BLF’s official press release about the incident, if companies do not stop such activities, “they will be responsible for the consequences.”

Promises vs reality: environmental harm under the banner of the just energy transition

The Reko Diq mine is being framed as a critical project for global clean energy supply chains. The global demand for copper, a key mineral for both renewable energy technologies and military equipment, is rising. Behind Reko Diq, there are high interests at stake: the US is backing the project to secure critical mineral supply chains away from China.

But in a region already facing water stress and ecological fragility, such a large-scale mining project risks deepening water scarcity, pollution, and loss of livelihoods (as highlighted also by Pakistan’s Supreme Court). 

Such a large-scale, industrial copper extraction project will likely lead to:

> increased water scarcity or pollution: in an already arid region, the mine’s substantial water use risks depleting or contaminating scarce groundwater sources, undermining crop irrigation and drinking water for animals and people;

> harmful impacts on human and animal’s health (e.g.: increased risk of respiratory illnesses, neurological disorders and other chronic diseases in humans, and poisoning, reduced fertility, stunted growth and increased mortality in animals);

> pollution (the IFC Disclosure page acknowledges that the project will emit significant particulate matter and there are also concerns about outstanding harms from previous attempts to develop the site, including cyanide poisoning);

> loss of livelihoods, particularly for those dependent on pastoralism and small-scale agriculture. The project will require significant land acquisition, which will restrict access to grazing lands and seasonal migration routes critical for livestock herders. Dust emissions can also damage pasture vegetation, reduce crop yields, and contaminate fodder with heavy metals, which in turn can harm animal health and reduce market value for livestock products. These changes will force herders and farmers to alter their way of life, fundamentally impacting their livelihoods, forcing many to find alternatives or migrate.

• increased greenhouse gas emissions and climate change impacts: according to the project documents, Reko Diq will generate “approximately 850,000 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent”, because of the direct emissions from the combustion of heavy fuel oil and diesel fuel to power the mine. This will increase Pakistan’s national greenhouse gas emissions and contribute to further exacerbating the country’s vulnerability to climate change.