Pakistan, July 16 -- The chief executive of Canadian mining firm Barrick Gold said this week the multibillion-dollar Reko Diq copper and gold project in Pakistan's Balochistan province will deliver "generational benefits" to the impoverished, conflict-hit region, as he met residents of Humai village near the mine site.

The Reko Diq project, jointly owned by Barrick and the governments of Pakistan and Balochistan, is one of the world's largest undeveloped copper-gold deposits. Long delayed by legal disputes and concerns over foreign investment, the mine is seen as a potential economic game changer in a province that has long suffered from poverty, underdevelopment, and armed separatist violence.

Balochistan, Pakistan's largest but least ...