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Barrick Gold Corporation

Doubts emerge over gold export agreement between Barrick, Tanzania – by Geoffrey York and Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – January 23, 2020)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Three months after Barrick Gold Corp. agreed to settle a costly dispute with the Tanzanian government, the deal is still not finalized and could be subject to further negotiations, according to African media and industry analysts.

Barrick and the government have missed a Dec. 31 deadline for completing the deal, and “doubts” have emerged to cast a cloud over the agreement, according to The East African, a weekly newspaper in the region.

Under the agreement last October, the Toronto-based gold company promised to pay US$300-million to settle a longstanding tax dispute. The government agreed to lift a ban on gold concentrate exports, while Barrick promised to share the future economic benefits from its Tanzanian mines with the government on a 50-50 basis. Barrick acquired the mines by purchasing its African subsidiary, Acacia, for US$1.2-billion last year.

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CEO says Barrick has plenty of financial ‘firepower’ for deals – by Danielle Bochove (BNN/Bloomberg News – December 12, 2019)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

Barrick Gold Corp.’s chief says the gold miner has the financial heft it needs to support its loftiest ambitions — and some day those might include a merger with Freeport-McMoRan Inc.

“Barrick, by end of next year, or during next year, will be net debt zero,” Chief Executive Officer Mark Bristow said Thursday in a phone interview. “We’ve definitely got the firepower to build a mine or to support a transaction. We don’t need any external support, for any of our ambitions, as we stand today.”

The world’s second-largest gold miner has been generating more cash flow, with higher bullion prices, even as it has sold assets. By the end of this year net debt will be under US$2 billion, Bristow said. “We’re going to settle all the near-term debt, and we’re left with debt that’s only due from 2023 onwards.”

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Barrick to sell Senegal gold project for $430-million – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – December 11, 2019)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Barrick Gold Corp. is selling its Massawa gold project in Senegal for up to US$430-million to West African junior producer Teranga Gold Corp., as part of its push to shed assets that don’t move the financial needle.

After buying African-focused Randgold Resources Ltd. earlier this year for US$6-billion, Toronto-based Barrick has been ridding itself of anything it deems too small, or not sufficiently profitable.

In the past month alone, Barrick has sold US$1.2-billion in assets, or about 80 per cent of what it hopes to achieve by the end of next year.

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Barrick Gold sells Senegal project to Teranga in $430 million deal – by Neils Christensen (Kitco News – December 10, 2019)

https://www.kitco.com/

(Kitco News) – Barrick Gold (NYSE: GOLD, TSX: ABX) is well on its way to achieving its goal of raising $1.5 billion in cash as it sells its stake in another non-core asset.

On Tuesday, the gold-mining juggernaut announced that it was selling its 90% stake in the Massawa project in Senegal to Teranga Gold Corp (TSX: TGZ). for $430 million.

The company said that the stock-and-cash deal consists of $300 million in cash with $80 million worth of Teranga shares. The sale also includes a contingent payment of up to $50 million, which is based upon the average gold price for the three-year period immediately following closing.

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Barrick seeks to eclipse $1.5 billion asset sales target, eyes more copper (Reuters U.S. – November 18, 2019)

https://www.reuters.com/

TORONTO (Reuters) – Canadian miner Barrick Gold Corp (ABX.TO) is keen to top its $1.5 billion target for asset sales after shedding its half of the Super Pit gold mine in Western Australia, Chief Executive Officer Mark Bristow said on Monday.

Australia’s Saracen Mineral Holdings Ltd (SAR.AX) agreed on Monday to buy Barrick’s 50% stake of the Kalgoorlie Consolidated Gold Mines Joint Venture, which operates one of Australia’s largest gold mines, for $750 million.. Newmont Goldcorp Corp (NEM.N) holds the other 50% share.

The deal is a first step in Barrick’s plan to jettison at least $1.5 billion in less-profitable assets by the end of 2020 in the wake of its acquisition of Rangold Resources a year ago. “The number is $1.5 billion to beat,” Bristow said in an interview. “We’re already half way.”

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Barrick Gold sells half of Kalgoorlie Consolidated Gold Mines for $750 million – by Valentina Ruiz Leotaud (Mining.com – November 17, 2019)

https://www.mining.com/

Canada’s Barrick Gold (TSX:ABX)(NYSE:GOLD), the world’s second largest producer of the yellow metal, reached an agreement to sell its 50% interest in Kalgoorlie Consolidated Gold Mines in Western Australia to Saracen Mineral Holdings (ASX:SAR).

Saracen already holds two gold operations in the Kalgoorlie region, namely, the Carosue Dam and the Thunderbox mine sites.

In a media statement, Barrick said the KCGM transaction involved the payment of $750 million in cash and that such funds will be used to further strengthen the company’s balance sheet, invest in future projects and deliver returns to its shareholders.

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OPINION: Beware foreign CEOs: Sometimes they just want to go home – by Eric Reguly (Globe and Mail – November 9, 2019)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Want to lose another Canadian head office? Easy! Hire a non-Canadian CEO. Canadian boards of directors seem to have a fascination with foreign chief executive officers. Canada is (largely) an open economy, one with pretenses to corporate greatness, so why not pick the best and the brightest from the United States, Europe and elsewhere?

Load them up with fat salaries and share option packages, and watch them create a Niagara of shareholder value. And a flag-waving Canadian business champion as a bonus.

Canada and a few other countries that worship at the altar of shareholder value, Britain among them, have bought into the cult of the globalist CEO – big time. But the cult is wearing thin.

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‘Obsession’ with world class assets leads Barrick Gold where others fear to tread – by Gabriel Friedman (Financial Post – November 7, 2019)

https://business.financialpost.com/

Barrick Gold Corp. chief executive Mark Bristow pledged to continue exploring in West Africa and Latin America, even as a “rising tide of resource nationalism” has scared away other mining companies who see too much risk there.

“If you want to focus on world class assets, which is our stated objective, and my obsession, asset quality always overrides jurisdiction,” Bristow told the Financial Post on Wednesday when the company reported its third quarter earnings.

The reason why so many mining companies run into problems in emerging economies is because they’re unwilling to share benefits from mining with the local community, he said.

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Barrick’s dividend boost looks like a harbinger for the normally tightfisted gold industry – by Justina Vasquez (Bloomberg/Financial Post – November 7, 2019)

https://business.financialpost.com/

Bullion giant Barrick Gold Corp. pleasantly surprised the market by raising its dividend 25 per cent. Will the move portend a new era of largess from the normally tightfisted gold miners?

There are certainly reasons for investors to be hopeful. Producers have been striving to cut costs and consolidate operations, while the price of gold has climbed over 20 per cent in the past year to hover around US$1,500 an ounce. Barrick’s move Wednesday was echoed a few hours later when Canadian rival Kirkland Lake Gold Ltd. raised its quarterly payout 50 per cent. B2Gold Corp. preceded both by announcing its first-ever dividend a day earlier.

“The companies are positioned to start to pay dividends and give more back to shareholders,” Joe Foster, a portfolio manager and strategist at VanEck, said by phone Wednesday.

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Barrick CEO Bristow Sees Long-Term Potential for Freeport Tie-Up – by Thomas Biesheuvel (Bloomberg News – November 6, 2019)

https://www.bloomberg.com/

Barrick Gold Corp.’s chief said there’s a logic to combining with Freeport-McMoran Inc. as a way to expand into copper, but isn’t committing to any deals yet.

A tie-up with Freeport could bolster Barrick’s U.S. presence, where it already operates gold mines in Nevada, said Chief Executive Officer Mark Bristow, who cautioned that it’s not something currently being considered.

“Everyone has been fingered as a potential suitor of Freeport,” said Bristow, when asked if he was interested in a combination. “There’s a bit of work for us to do before we can get our head around broadening our scope.”

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Close offices, cut jobs, Barrick CEO says as he calls for consolidation in the gold industry – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – November 6, 2019)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Barrick Gold Corp.’s chief executive officer says the gold-mining sector needs more merger activity to capitalize on the cost savings that come from closing head offices and cutting staff.

Mark Bristow helped kick start a wave of deal making in the industry last year when his Africa-focused Randgold Resources Ltd. agreed to be sold to Barrick for US$6-billion. A few months later, Newmont Mining Corp. announced it would acquire Goldcorp Inc. for US$10-billion, creating the world’s largest gold mining company. Barrick and Newmont also agreed this year to combine some operations in Nevada in order to reduce costs.

Now, he says, the time has come for more deals and more job cuts at gold companies. Under Mr. Bristow, Randgold was known for employing a skeleton crew at its head office.

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Pakistan’s tycoons offer to take over former Barrick mine (Bloomberg/Mining Weekly – October 28, 2019)

https://www.miningweekly.com/

KARACHI – Pakistan’s top business tycoons have offered to take over a disputed copper and gold deposit that was once explored by Barrick Gold and Antofagasta, according to people familiar with the matter.

Officials at the provincial Balochistan government are said to have met with a consortium of four business groups including tycoons Arif Habib and Muhammad Ali Tabba who are willing to invest about $1-billion of their own cash in the project, the people said, asking not to be named because the discussions are private.

The consortium is willing to go through a bidding process to take over the project, the people said. Pakistan’s provincial government spokesman didn’t respond to requests for comment.

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Barrick Gold reaches deal with Tanzania to settle disputes over Acacia Mining (Reuters U.S. – October 20, 2019)

https://www.reuters.com/

Oct 20 (Reuters) – Barrick Gold Corp said it had reached a deal to settle a long-running tax dispute between Tanzania and mining group Acacia, which Barrick bought in a $1.2 billion deal approved by a British court last month.

The agreement includes the payment of $300 million to settle outstanding tax and other disputes, the lifting of a concentrate export ban, and the sharing of future economic benefits from mines on a 50-50 basis, Barrick said in a statement on Sunday.

An Africa-focused international dispute resolution framework will also be established as part of the agreement, Barrick said.

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Barrick misses quarterly gold output estimates on Tanzania curbs (Reuters Canada – October 17, 2019)

https://ca.reuters.com/

(Reuters) – Barrick Gold Corp (ABX.TO), (GOLD.N) fell short of analysts’ estimates for third-quarter gold production on Thursday, as lower output at its North Mara mine in Tanzania offset gains from its Randgold buy and the Nevada Gold Mines joint venture.

Operations at the Canadian company’s North Mara mine were hit by tax and environmental disputes, and restrictions were lifted in September after Barrick addressed concerns about seepage at the project’s tailings storage facility.

North Mara was operated by Acacia Mining and Barrick took full control of the miner after a British court approved its $1.2 billion takeover.

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Barrick to invest $34 million to extend Veladero’s mine life – by Valentina Ruiz Leotaud (Mining.com – August 24, 2019)

https://www.mining.com/

Barrick Gold’s (TSX:ABX)(NYSE:GOLD) CEO, Mark Bristow, announced this weekend that the company is planning to invest $34 million in its Veladero operation in western Argentina with the idea of extending the mine’s life until 2028.

Veladero produced 278,000 ounces of gold in 2018 and, at present, its inferred gold resources add up to 555,000 ounces. In 2019, the mine is expected to produce between 230,000 and 250,000 ounces of the yellow metal.

According to Bristow, Barrick is in the process of reviewing Veladero’s geological model and assessing the possibility of expanding its footprint.

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