ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Friday concluded the hearing of the Reko Diq case, DawnNews reported. The ruling in the case is to be issued on Jan 7, 2013.

A three-judge bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, had been hearing the case constituting of identical petitions filed against the federal government’s decision to lease out gold and copper mines in Reko Diq in Balochistan’s Chagai district to the Tethyan Copper Company (TCC) – a Canadian and Chilean consortium of Barrick Gold and Antofagasta Minerals. Reko Diq sits over the popular Tethyan copper belt and is known to have the fifth largest deposits of gold and copper in the world.

During the hearing, Chief Justice Iftikhar said the ruling in the case would be in accordance with the country's law and Constitution.

The bench reserved the ruling after Khalid Anwar, counsel for the TCC, concluded his arguments.

Earlier during the hearing, Anwar stated that he had concluded his arguments. The counsel for BHP company, Abdul Hafeez Pirzada and counsel for Balochistan government, Ahmer Bilal Sufi, had already concluded their arguments.