Barrick Gold just won a US$5.83B arbitration award, but getting paid may be a different story – by Gabriel Friedman (Financial Post – July 16, 2019)

https://business.financialpost.com/

Collecting such high-value awards is far from simple or guaranteed

The World Bank’s International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes has ordered the Islamic Republic of Pakistan to pay US$5.83 billion to a Barrick Gold Corp. joint venture subsidiary for blocking a mining project nearly a decade ago.

It marks the latest in a string of high-value arbitration awards that Canadian resource companies have won against foreign countries in recent years, although collecting such awards is far from simple or guaranteed.

Barrick, which jointly owns the subsidiary with Chilean copper company Antofogasta Plc, long ago dropped the project from most of its investor materials. On Monday, both companies signalled an interest in settling the matter with Pakistan, which is set to receive billions of dollars in loans from the International Monetary Fund as it struggles to revive its economy.

“My view is I don’t expect Barrick to get paid anywhere what this number is,” said Carey MacRury, a metals and mining research analyst with Canaccord Genuity. “It just seems unclear what value they get out of this at the end of the day.”

A Barrick spokeswoman said that chief executive Mark Bristow was travelling and unavailable to comment. The dispute stems from a joint venture between Barrick and Antofogasta that was registered in Australia and known as Tethyan Copper Company Ltd.

For the rest of this article: https://business.financialpost.com/commodities/mining/i-dont-expect-barrick-to-get-paid-5-83-billion-arbitration-win-in-pakistan-leaves-unanswered-questions