Jamie Sokalsky has spent most of his tenure as Barrick Gold Corp. (ABX)’s chief executive officer retrenching and fighting fires. Now that the smoke is starting to clear, he’s refocusing on opportunities for growth.
The world’s biggest gold producer plans to expand in Nevada, where it got about 40 percent of its gold last year, Sokalsky said last week.
“Now that we’ve really reset the company, it’s time to talk about the future,” Sokalsky said in an interview on a Nevada hillside overlooking Goldrush, one of the projects at the top of the company’s investment plans.
Since Sokalsky, 57, took over in June 2012, Toronto-based Barrick has shed more than a quarter of its mines, raised $3 billion in a share sale and slashed its spending plans, while wrestling with a falling gold price. The company’s average costs in the first three months of 2014 fell to the lowest in at least two years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
While those austerity plans were overshadowed last month by news the company failed to buy its biggest competitor, Newmont Mining Corp. (NEM), Sokalsky says those talks are “finished” and Barrick is focused on its strategy as a standalone entity.
Sokalsky is trying to move the company in the right direction even as he faces challenges including a high debt level, said Robert Gill, who helps manage C$3.4 billion ($3.1 billion) at Lincluden Investment Management, including Barrick shares.
‘Make Sense’
“The company has been focused on fighting a lot of fires in the past,” Gill said yesterday by phone. “It would make sense that you would want to focus on some of the new opportunities going forward.”
Barrick’s plans in Nevada include working on a study for its Goldrush discovery, examining the potential for deeper mining at the nearby Cortez Hills mine and considering an expansion at the Turquoise Ridge mine. The focus is on “high-quality” production, and Nevada will probably become an increasingly important part of the company’s total gold output, Sokalsky said.
Barrick also is investing more in early-stage projects owned by exploration and development companies. In February, the company acquired a 70 percent interest in the Spring Valley project in Nevada, near its Goldstrike mine, that was owned by Midway Gold Corp., and signed a March agreement with another explorer, Coral Gold Resources Ltd., to earn 75 percent of the Gold Ridge project.
For the rest of this article, click here: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-05-27/barrick-gold-ceo-sees-growth-in-nevada-following-reset-.html