The board of Australian explorer
The new takeover bid, supported by
Antofagasta has placed a condition of 90% of the shares being tendered on its offer. It also needs the approval of Australia’s Foreign Investment Review Board.
A previous deal to extinguish the back-in right held on Reko Diq by
Barrick’s payment thus covers half the takeover bid plus half the payment for the BHP back-in right.
Tethyan’s former parent company, Western Australian nickel producer
If the Antofagasta-Barrick bid succeeds, it puts an end to a bid from Hong Kong merchant bank
Still, Crosby’s principal selling point to Tethyan shareholders — the political risk of a project in western Pakistan — was underscored by increasing violence in recent weeks in the province of Balochistan, where the project is located. Anti-government rebellion is no novelty in Balochistan, which has seen three uprisings — in 1958, 1962 and 1973 — since Partition.
Unconfirmed estimates from restive tribal groups in Balochistan, mostly in the area southeast of Quetta, put the death toll in clashes between locals and Pakistani police and army units at 137, plus unknown numbers of rebels, since December 2005. Three Chinese technicians working on a cement plant were murdered on Feb. 15 by a group claiming to be Balochi separatists, and Western governments have warned against travel to the region.
The project area is in the extreme west of Balochistan, which has not seen significant violence yet.
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