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Project Vault: US to invest $1.3 billion in Reko Diq mine in Pakistan's Balochistan
This project, announced by the State Department on Wednesday, aims to “reshape the global market for critical minerals and rare earths.”
The United States has announced it will be investing $1.3 billion in Pakistan's Reko Diq mine as part of its “Project Vault'. This project, announced by the State Department on Wednesday, aims to “reshape the global market for critical minerals and rare earths.”
Reko Diq, which is in the province of Balochistan, is the world's largest gold and copper reserves. Based on the data provided by the State Department, Reko Diq is also the only investment made outside of the US for “Project Vault”.
Project Vault was announced by Donald Trump on February 2, 2026, as an initiative led by the Chairman of the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM).
Under this, EXIM approved a loan of $10 billion for the project, one of the largest made in the history of the federal agency.
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In the past year, EXIM issued $14.8 billion in Letters of Interest for critical minerals projects for the second Trump Administration. For the critical minerals portfolio, EXIM has authorised several transactions, including $1.3 billion in Pakistan.
The other transactions include $10 billion to establish Project Vault, which will serve as the US Strategic Critical Minerals Reserve; $27.4 million for titanium, nickel, and advanced metal powders in Pennsylvania; $23.5 million for advanced materials and critical metals processing in Tennessee; $15.9 million for zinc mining and production in New York and $11.1 million for titanium processing and manufacturing in Virginia.
Among the list, Pakistan is the only non-US investment made for critical minerals.
About the Reko Diq mine
The Reko Diq mine in Balochistan, Pakistan, is one of the largest copper and gold reserves in the world. As per reports, the area is estimated to have 5.9 billion tonnes of ore grading 0.41% copper and gold reserves amounting to 41.5 million ounces.
The Reko Diq area is also one of many eroded remnant volcanic centers in the Chagai volcanic chain of mountains, which runs in across Balochistan between the Quetta-Taftan Line railway and the border with Afghanistan.
In 2011, the mine was at the centre of a legal dispute between Pakistan and Tethyan Copper Company (TCC), which was a joint venture between Chile's Antofagasta and Canada's Barrick Gold.
The case focused on the breach of the Australia–Pakistan Bilateral Investment Treaty and illegal denial of mining rights to TCC.
