Archive | Barrick Gold Corporation

Barrick Gold Seeks Chinese Partners, May Slash Headcount: Globe – by Natalie Obiko Pearson (Bloomberg News – September 15, 2018)

September 17, 2018 in Africa Mining, Barrick Gold Corporation, Canada Mining, Gold and Silver, International Media Resource Articles

https://www.bloomberg.com/

Barrick Gold Corp. may slash 400 jobs and involve Chinese partners in its troubled Tanzania operations, Executive Chairman John Thornton told the Globe and Mail newspaper.

The Toronto-based company has slashed middle management by half to about 700 and “we want to get it down to 300,” Thornton, who’s been in his role since 2014, told the Globe in an interview in London. The former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. executive wants a leaner, entrepreneurial partnership more like the early days under late founder Peter Munk, the Globe said.

Thornton said there’s “an almost 100 percent” chance Chinese partners will get involved in Barrick’s projects in Tanzania that are operated through its 64 percent stake in Acacia Mining Plc. Continue Reading →

Barrick Gold’s John Thornton won’t back down – by Eric Reguly (Globe and Mail – September 15, 2018)

September 15, 2018 in Barrick Gold Corporation, Canada Mining, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Gold and Silver

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

John Thornton will tell you he saved Barrick Gold Corp. from certain destruction and set it up for fresh success. The company’s shareholders are not convinced. To many of them, Barrick looks like the incredible shrinking company. Who is right?

Mr. Thornton, executive chairman of the world’s biggest gold company since 2014, and a former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. president, is utterly convinced his overhaul of Barrick has changed the Toronto company for the better – even though its shares have dropped almost 40 per cent in the past year alone and are down by more than half since their most recent peak, in 2016.

In an exceedingly rare interview – this is one boss who avoids the media – he is coming out of his shell to defend a turnaround strategy that seems to have alienated investors rather than please them. “Chasing ounces,” as he puts it, is not his strategy. His plan is to recreate Barrick as a gold company that does not operate like a gold company, while inviting big-name Chinese miners to invest in Barrick projects. Continue Reading →

Ex Glencore bosses try to snatch nickel asset – by Sarah Thompson and Anthony Macdonald (Australian Financial Review – August 19, 2018)

August 20, 2018 in Africa Mining, Barrick Gold Corporation, Cobalt, Critical, Strategic and Rare Earth Minerals and Metals, Glencore, Junior Exploration Sector, Nickel

https://www.afr.com/

Mining giants Glencore and Barrick could have a prospective nickel and cobalt project taken from under their nose, if plans being hatched by ASX-listed Jervois Mining come to fruition.

As first reported by Street Talk on Sunday, Jervois has been making moves to win control of the Kabanga nickel and cobalt project in Tanzania, after the host government cancelled Glencore and Barrick’s joint hold of it in January.

The January cancellation was part of a broader push by the government to get a bigger share of its mineral wealth, but Glencore and Barrick have been upbeat in recent times about their chances of winning a fresh permit to explore and develop the asset. Continue Reading →

Nevada: Where the World Goes for Gold (Investing News Network – August 16th, 2018)

August 17, 2018 in Barrick Gold Corporation, Canadian Regional Media and Web Publications, Gold and Silver, Nevada Mining, Newmont

Investing News Network

This Investing News Network article is sponsored by Fremont Gold (TSXV:FRE).

Nevada may be one of the most geologically diverse mining jurisdictions in the world. Nearly every type of rock known to geologists can be found in the state’s desert landscape.

Nevada has been an important source of many of the world’s most critical base metals including copper, zinc and molybdenum. Today, Nevada leads the country in the production of lithium and, not surprisingly, the Silver State contains a wealth of precious metals, ranking as one of the top 5 global gold producers.

Nevada owes its unique geology and prolific gold production to the complex tectonic history of the northern Great Basin which gave rise to the widespread landscape of fault-dominated mountain ranges and valleys. Continue Reading →

Massive Barrick-Novagold gold mine project in Alaska receives key U.S. environmental permits – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – August 15, 2018)

August 15, 2018 in Alaska Mining, Barrick Gold Corporation, Canada Mining, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Gold and Silver

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Barrick Gold Corp. and Novagold Resources Inc. have been given a key governmental green light to build a massive new gold mine in Alaska, but uncertain economics amid a weakening gold price mean it’s unclear whether the capital-intensive project will ever see the light of day.

In a joint release, Barrick and its junior joint-venture partner Novagold said that they had received a number of U.S. federal government environmental permits that would pave the way for the development of the Donlin Gold project, which the duo first teamed up on more than a decade ago.

Donlin, in southwestern Alaska, is one of the world’s biggest undeveloped gold projects with 39 million ounces of gold held in the economically uncertain “resources” category. Continue Reading →

Barrick planning further mine sales, chairman Thornton says – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – August 11, 2018)

August 13, 2018 in Barrick Gold Corporation, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Gold and Silver

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Barrick Gold Corp. plans to sell at least five more mines, as the company doubles down on its strategy to focus on profitable mining over growing its production.

In a wide-ranging town hall speech made earlier this week to employees, executive chairman John Thornton also made it clear that the company has no interest in buying Detour Gold Corp., despite a Bloomberg report a few weeks ago that said Barrick was an “undisclosed bidder” for the struggling junior gold company.

Barrick, the world’s biggest gold company by production, has been relentlessly selling assets over the past few years after its debt ballooned to US$15.8-billion in 2013 − the firm sank about US$8-billion into the construction of a South America mine that was eventually abandoned − and in the aftermath of a disastrous acquisition. Continue Reading →

Barrick Gold chair lashes out at mining ‘industry disease,’ doubles down on his strategy – by Gabriel Friedman (Financial Post – August 11, 2018)

August 13, 2018 in Barrick Gold Corporation, Canada Mining, Gold and Silver

https://business.financialpost.com/

John Thornton, a latecomer to the industry who lives in an $81-million Florida villa, is facing a test to his leadership as investors lose confidence

With Barrick Gold Corp. about to lose its title as world’s largest gold producer, and its stock nearing a low-point for the year, executive chairman John Thornton called a town-hall meeting this week to insist his strategy is working and the rest of the industry has it wrong.

Describing it an “industry disease,” Thornton lambasted his rivals, bankers, researchers, shareholders and others who value growth in production over growth in profits, according to a partial transcript that Barrick posted on its website on Thursday evening.

“The whole industry gets itself into a bad habit,” he said. “It’s kind of an echo chamber, and they encourage each other towards what I would call bad behaviour. They don’t see it that way, but I see it that way.” Continue Reading →

Barrick Says China Partner for Copper ‘Makes All Kinds of Sense’ – by Danielle Bochove (Bloomberg News – August 10, 2018)

August 10, 2018 in Barrick Gold Corporation, Canada Mining, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Gold and Silver

https://www.bloomberg.com/

Barrick Gold Corp. Executive Chairman John Thornton says the Canadian miner is looking at its copper assets “very seriously” to see if it makes sense to form a copper company with one or two partners, most likely from China.

“The question for us on copper is, ‘Can you take the copper assets, combine them with another party, or even two parties and build a first-tier global copper company over time?’ ” Thornton told employees on Wednesday. “Now in answering that question, the likelihood that your partner in that endeavor will be Chinese is very high.”

“The question for us on copper is, ‘Can you take the copper assets, combine them with another party, or even two parties and build a first-tier global copper company over time?’ ” Thornton told employees on Wednesday. “Now in answering that question, the likelihood that your partner in that endeavor will be Chinese is very high.” Continue Reading →

Barrick says copper operation in Saudi Arabia not affected by diplomatic dispute – by Valentina Ruiz Leotaud (Mining.com – August 8, 2018)

August 9, 2018 in Asia Mining, Barrick Gold Corporation, Canada Mining, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Copper

http://www.mining.com/

A representative of Canadian gold giant Barrick Gold (TSX, NYSE:ABX) told the Globe & Mail today that the company’s Saudi operations are not affected by the current diplomatic dispute between Ottawa and Riyadh.

In an email to the newspaper, spokesman Andy Lloyd said that Barrick has a strong relationship with Ma’aden (TADAWUL:1211), the 50-per-cent state-owned company with which the miner operates the Jabal Sayid copper mine, located 350 kilometers north-east of Jeddah, in the western part of the country.

“We expect that partnership will continue to deepen over time,” Lloyd told the news outlet. The Toronto-based firm gained the Jabal Sayid project when it acquired copper miner Equinox in 2011 for $6.8 billion. Continue Reading →

[Kelvin Dushnisky] Manitoba-raised mining exec goes global – by Martin Cash (Winnipeg Free Press – August 8, 2018)

August 8, 2018 in Barrick Gold Corporation, Canada Mining, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Gold and Silver

https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/

Dushnisky doesn’t forget local roots while preparing to take control of South African gold producer

When he was going to high school in Birtle 30 years ago, Kelvin Dushnisky said he would never have imagined that he’d one day be moving to Johannesburg, South Africa, to take over management of the third-largest gold-mining company in the world, AngloGold Ashanti. But that’s exactly what Dushnisky will be doing in a couple of months.

The former president and second in command at Toronto-based Barrick Gold, where he’s risen up the ranks for the past 16 years, said he has never forgotten his Manitoba roots as he’s travelled the globe negotiating complex mineral resource enterprises with local and national governments and workers alike.

In fact, he said his small-town upbringing is one of the valuable assets he is able to bring when negotiating and planning out investments of hundreds of millions of dollars around the world. Continue Reading →

Goldman Banker Takes On World’s Largest Gold Miner—and Gets Pushback – by Jacquie McNish (Wall Street Journal – August 6, 2018)

August 7, 2018 in Barrick Gold Corporation, Canada Mining, Gold and Silver, International Media Resource Articles

https://www.wsj.com/

John Thornton, former Goldman Sachs president, threw out the mining rulebook when he took over Barrick Gold Corp.

Mining is famously boom and bust. Money and patience are mandatory. In bad times, companies sell assets and close mines. In booms they buy up all they can.

John Thornton threw that rulebook out when he took over struggling Barrick Gold Corp. ABX -2.18% , the world’s largest gold producer. The former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. president was an industry amateur, as were most of his top hires. He followed Goldman as a model for company compensation. Instead of buying when prices recovered, he cut costs and sold assets.

Mr. Thornton, 64 years old, spends only two or three days a month at Barrick’s Toronto headquarters. He communicates constantly with his team by email, sometimes firing off requests late at night or when executives are on vacation, according to people familiar with the matter. If he doesn’t receive a quick response, Mr. Thornton repeats the request with the new subject line: “resending,” these people said. Continue Reading →

Barrick Gold makes China investor push as markets slump – by Susan Taylor (Reuters U.S. – August 1, 2018)

August 2, 2018 in Barrick Gold Corporation, Canada Mining, Canadian Media Resource Articles, Gold and Silver

https://www.reuters.com/

TORONTO (Reuters) – Barrick Gold Corp will make a bigger push to attract institutional investors in China under a new deeper-ties pact with Shandong Gold, aimed at bolstering its shareholder base, executives told Reuters.

Bruised by a strong U.S. dollar, the price of gold is nearing a one-year low, with speculators holding record short positions. China, the world’s largest producer and consumer of gold, is a largely untapped investor source for western miners, said Barrick’s China President Woo Lee.

“We’re establishing relationships with some of these large investors in China – that’s something that we haven’t had before,” Lee said in an interview. “Because Shandong knows the market far better than we do, they are potentially a good source of introductions to the best investors.” Continue Reading →

Editorial: C-suite departures hit Barrick, Teck, Lundin – by John Cumming (Northern Miner – July 31, 2018)

August 1, 2018 in Barrick Gold Corporation, Canada Mining, Canadian Media Resource Articles

http://www.northernminer.com/

The sudden and unexpected departure in late July of Barrick Gold president Kelvin Dushnisky — and more tellingly, the lack of a named replacement and the unusual vacancy in Barrick’s CEO spot since mid-2014 — stands in stark contrast to the orderly transitions announced by Teck Resources and Lundin Mining just two days later.

At Teck, long-time chairman Norman B. Keevil said he will retire from that role in October, at which time global business executive Dominic Barton will replace him as chairman (Barton will become a Teck director a month earlier). Also in October, Norman Keevil III, who has been a Teck director since 1997, will become vice-chair.

Teck announced that Norman B. Keevil and long-standing director and deputy chairman Warren S. R. Seyffert will retire completely from the board at year-end, at which time Keevil will be named chairman emeritus and special advisor to the board in what Teck calls “recognition of his pivotal role in helping build Teck into a major force in the mining industry.” Continue Reading →

China goes for gold with overseas mining projects – by Rurika Imahashi (Nikkei Asian Review – July 30, 2018)

July 31, 2018 in Asia Mining, Barrick Gold Corporation, Canada Mining, Gold and Silver, International Media Resource Articles

https://asia.nikkei.com/

A secure supply is seen as critical to the country’s economic and strategic goals

TOKYO — Chinese gold miners are on the hunt for mines overseas, spurred by robust prices of the precious metal. Already the world’s largest gold producer, China’s sees overseas mines as part of the country’s long-term strategic goals of expanding its economic influence and building up its manufacturing might.

Part of this agenda involves working with foreign partners. In early July, Canada’s Barrick Gold, the world’s largest bullion producer, said it would expand cooperation with China’s Shandong Gold Group in developing gold mines.

“This agreement will allow us to take our partnership to the next level,” said Barrick Executive Chairman John Thornton about the “enhanced strategic cooperation agreement” with Shandong Gold. Continue Reading →

The world’s most insatiable consumer digs deep into Canadian miners – by Gabriel Friedman (Financial Post – July 28, 2018)

July 30, 2018 in Asia Mining, Barrick Gold Corporation, Canada Mining, Commodity Super-Cycle and Decline

https://business.financialpost.com/

How Chinese investment and pull increasingly drive our mining sector

After spending billions of dollars and two decades trying — and failing — to build a mine on the border of Chile and Argentina, Toronto-based Barrick Gold Corp. is reverting to a predictable strategy: it wants to partner with a Chinese company.

Earlier this month, the largest gold miner in the world announced that it asked Shandong Gold Group Co. Ltd, a smaller, younger, less well-known state-owned Chinese company, to study whether its long-delayed Pascua-Lama mine could be economically built if the Chilean part of the deposit were left in the ground — something Barrick’s own geologists and engineers thus far have not justified to management’s satisfaction.

It is far from Barrick’s first partnership with a Chinese company, but in the past it partnered by selling stakes in its mines and forming joint ventures. Continue Reading →