QUETTA, Dec 15: The Balochistan government, after refusing to grant a mining licence to Tethyan Copper Company, has decided to set up a refinery at the site for running the Reko Diq copper-cum-gold project in the Chaghai district.

A decision to this effect was taken at a meeting of the board of governors of the project on Wednesday. The meeting was presided over by Chief Minister Nawab Aslam Raisani.

It was decided that the Balochistan government would run the project itself and, as a first step, a refinery would be installed at the project site immediately. Nuclear scientist Dr Samar Mubarak Mand, Chief Secretary Ahmed Bakhsh Lehri, Finance Secretary Dosteen Khan Jamaldani and secretary of mines and mineral attended the meeting.

The Balochistan government has already allocated Rs12 billion as the block allocation from which funds would be spent on setting up the refinery.

“The decision of the meeting will be implemented immediately and without delay,” a senior official told Dawn, adding that the meeting had also appointed a senior officer as the managing director of the project.