TORONTO, June 24 (Reuters) – Barrick Gold Corp will lay off up to a third of its corporate staff at its headquarters in Toronto and other offices, sources said, as the world’s top bullion producer intensifies a downsizing plan amid a slump in the price of gold.
Barrick and miners such as Newmont Mining and Newcrest Mining are shaking up operations and taking measures like shutting down development projects, slashing exploration spending and cutting jobs due to the sliding gold price.
The cuts were announced by Barrick’s Chief Executive Jamie Sokalsky at a town hall meeting with staff in Toronto last week, said the sources, who asked not to be named as they are not officially authorized to speak about the matter.
One source said this is the first ever round of across-the- board layoffs for the company at its corporate headquarters in Toronto. Besides the falling gold price, it is also facing operational and regulatory issues at some of its mines and projects.
Barrick has over 400 people working as corporate staff with the vast majority of those located in Toronto, said the sources. A spokesman for Barrick was not immediately able to comment on the matter.
The cuts in Toronto are set to begin on Monday and will be completed before the end of the week, while the cuts that impact corporate staff in offices like Vancouver and elsewhere, could drag into July, said one source.
The sources said Sokalsky, a long-time Barrick hand who took over as CEO barely a year ago, was visibly emotional during the mid-week town hall meeting with employees. He declined to take any questions from employees and informed staff that their direct managers would respond to their questions.
The company, which has roughly 25,000 employees across the globe, is also in the process of cutting jobs at a number of its mine sites. Last week, it announced that it was cutting about 50 employees at its operations in the United States, and earlier this month it announced a few dozen cuts in Australia.
Gold extended last week’s 7 percent drop on Monday, hurt by a stronger dollar and worries over an early end to U.S. Federal Reserve stimulus.
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