The US Export-Import Bank has approved a financing package of USD 1.25 billion for Pakistan’s Reko Diq copper-gold mine in Balochistan, announced by US Chargé d’Affaires Natalie Baker in Islamabad on 10 December 2025. The facility is expected to catalyse up to USD 2 billion worth of US mining equipment and services, create an estimated 7,500 jobs in Balochistan and about 6,000 jobs in the United States, and support first production at the Barrick-led project targeted around 2028. Reko Diq, one of the world’s largest undeveloped copper-gold deposits, is held 50 per cent by Barrick Gold and 50 per cent by Pakistani federal and provincial entities, with a projected mine life of nearly four decades and multi-billion-dollar export potential. Strategically, the move signals Washington’s bid to gain a foothold in Balochistan’s critical minerals space, balancing China’s earlier CPEC-linked bets and adding a new economic lever in a region central to India’s security calculus and sea-lane oversight