The Financial Post reports in its Thursday edition that for three decades, international mining companies have tussled with officials and locals over a patch of desert around an extinct volcano in Pakistan's neglected, insurgent-prone western province of Balochistan. A Financial Times of London item inside the Post says that now, after resolving years of legal disputes, Barrick Gold wants to invest $7-billion (U.S.) to revive the mining project Reko Diq, which experts believe contains one of the world's largest untapped reserves of copper and gold. Barrick and Pakistani authorities say Reko Diq will not only be Pakistan's largest foreign fixed investment, but a vital source of copper -- a key component for the world's energy transition -- at a time when global supplies are barely likely to meet demand. "Reko Diq is one of the bigger copper-gold undeveloped projects in the world," said Mark Bristow, chief executive officer of Barrick, which aims to start mining in 2028 subject to a feasibility study. "It's a very big deal. Any copper mine right now is a big deal." The project highlights how the copper shortfall is pushing miners into ever trickier markets in search of supply. Balochistan is Pakistan's poorest province.