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Barrick Gold Corporation

Barrick prepared to give Mali more than half of economic spoils to end fiscal dispute – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – November 8, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Barrick Gold Corp. chief executive Mark Bristow says the Canadian gold miner is prepared to fork over to Mali more than half of the economic spoils from mining in the country, as it toils to put an end to yet another fiscal dispute with an overseas government.

Toronto-based Barrick over the past few years has bounced from one fiscal dispute to another with several host countries over taxes, royalties and joint-venture stakes in its mines overseas. After patching up disputes that lasted for years with both Tanzania in East Africa and then Papua New Guinea in the southwestern Pacific, Barrick this year has tangled with Mali’s military junta in West Africa.

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Mali threatens to let Barrick mine permit lapse over dispute – by Katarina Höije, Diakaridia Dembele and William Clowes (Bloomberg News – October 25, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

Mali’s military government has threatened to take back Barrick Gold Corp.’s Loulo mine concession when the current permit expires in 2026, amid an escalating dispute over how to divide the economic benefits from operations in the country.

Mali is considering letting the permit for Loulo lapse when it expires in February 2026, Finance Minister Alousseni Sanou said in an Oct. 18 letter sent to Barrick’s chief executive officer Mark Bristow, and seen by Bloomberg. Mali “reserves the right not to renew the operating permit” and invited Barrick to talks on the mine’s “transition phase” starting later this month, Sanou wrote.

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Barrick Gold asks judge to dismiss Ontario lawsuits for alleged killings and abuses at Tanzanian mine – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – October 17, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Barrick Gold Corp. is asking an Ontario judge to dismiss lawsuits alleging that its subsidiary in East Africa committed human-rights atrocities in the vicinity of its North Mara mine, arguing that the matter should be litigated overseas.

Barrick is defending two civil cases in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, one from November, 2022, and another from February of this year. The plaintiffs are Indigenous Kurya from villages around the mine in Tanzania who were injured in 2021 and 2022 when mine security police allegedly shot at them, as well as family members of victims who were killed during this period allegedly by the police.

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Mali seeks $500 million in outstanding taxes and dividends from Barrick – report – by Staff (Mining.com – October 8, 2024)

https://www.mining.com/

Mali’s military government is seeking at least 300 billion CFA ($512 million) in outstanding taxes and dividends from Barrick Gold, according to a Reuters report.

Authorities in Mali briefly detained four Malian staff members working for Barrick last month.On Sept. 30, Barrick stated it had agreed with the government to resolve existing claims and disputes.

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Four Barrick employees arrested in Mali by Russia-backed military regime – by Geoffrey York (Globe and Mail – September 30, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Four senior employees of Barrick Gold Corp. have reportedly been arrested in Mali in the latest sign of rising tensions between the Toronto-based mining company and the authoritarian military regime that runs the West African country.

The four Malian employees of Barrick were arrested for alleged financial crimes, according to a report by Reuters, but no details have emerged.

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Barrick Gold CEO Mark Bristow hints at retirement in 2026 – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – August 13, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Barrick Gold Corp. chief executive officer Mark Bristow is raising the possibility that he may retire in 2026. Mr. Bristow took over as CEO in 2019 after Toronto-based Barrick acquired Randgold Resources Ltd., the Africa-focused mining company he founded and ran for about two decades.

Hard-nosed, detail-oriented and outspoken, the South African is one of the most driven executives in the mining industry. At Barrick, he has stickhandled multiple difficult situations, including patching up multiyear mining contract spats with the governments of Tanzania and Papua New Guinea.

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London bullion market drops bid to block U.K. trial over allegations against Barrick mine – by Geoffrey York (Globe and Mail – June 17, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

London’s bullion market association is abandoning a jurisdictional challenge to a lawsuit by Tanzanian claimants, setting the stage for a British trial into allegations that the association is wrongly giving human-rights clearance to gold products from Barrick Gold Corp.’s controversial North Mara mine.

The lawsuit was filed in London in 2022 by relatives of two Tanzanian men allegedly killed by security forces at the North Mara gold mine, but the jurisdictional argument had delayed the trial for nearly a year.

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Barrick CEO signals protracted fight against Mali government intervention in mining sector – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – May 2, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Barrick Gold Corp. is signalling it could be in for a protracted slog in Mali, as the big Canadian gold miner pushes back on the military government’s demands for a greater share of the country’s mining spoils.

Barrick on Wednesday said Mali is seeking unspecified changes to the tax, financial and legal regime at its Loulo-Gounkoto mining operations. The site is on track to produce 535,000 ounces of gold this year and is the company’s biggest operation by far in Africa.

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Barrick accused of using virtual AGM format to misrepresent or ignore shareholder concerns – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – May 1, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Barrick Gold Corp. is being accused of using the virtual format for its annual general meeting to suppress critical questions from stakeholders. After holding a hybrid AGM last year that allowed stakeholders to show up in person, the Toronto-based gold mining company, which is the world’s second biggest by market value, went to a virtual-only format this year.

Virtual AGMs have attracted the ire of some shareholder-rights groups. In an open letter to members of the S&P/TSX 60 Index in April, a group of 38 institutional investors, advisers, portfolio managers and non-profits argued that online meetings can undermine shareholder rights, by allowing companies to cherry-pick questions, or change the wording of them.

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Barrick facing uncertainty in Mali, amid reports of regime seeking control of mine – by Geoffrey York (Globe and Mail – April 15, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Barrick Gold Corp. is facing mounting pressure in Mali as the country’s military regime seeks to boost its control of the multibillion-dollar mining sector at a time of growing Russian influence over its economy.

Mali’s junta, which seized power in a coup in 2021 and later forged an alliance with Russian troops, has been targeting the mining sector for more than a year with a controversial audit of the industry and a new mining code to authorize greater state control of mining companies.

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Barrick eyes Peru growth amid global asset expansion – by Staff (Mining.com – April 4, 2024)

https://www.mining.com/

Barrick Gold’s (TSX: ABX)(NYSE:GOLD) ongoing push to expand its global portfolio has prompted the company to revisit its presence in the Latin American market.

The world’s second largest gold miner has in the past year been particularly interested in Peru, where it was the second top gold producer until 2018. According to local newspaper Gestión, Barrick recently submitted a request to obtain a mining concession for 400 hectares in the southern Puno district.

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Barrick settles lawsuit with Tanzanian villagers who alleged security abuses – by Geoffrey York (Globe and Mail – March 29, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Barrick Gold Corp. says its subsidiaries have settled a British court case with 10 Tanzanian villagers who alleged that police and security guards had caused deaths and injuries near the company’s North Mara gold mine.

The two subsidiaries in Tanzania did not admit any liability in the case at the High Court of Justice in London, Barrick said in a terse one-sentence statement on its website this week. It gave no other details.

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Barrick shuts down water supply after uranium found at copper mine in Zambia – by Geoffrey York (Globe and Mail – March 20, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Barrick Gold says it has found uranium in the drinking water of an open section of its Lumwana copper mine in Zambia, forcing it to halt the water supply and switch to other water sources for its workers in the section.

The Zambian mine has become increasingly important to Barrick’s future. The Toronto-based company has announced plans for a US$2-billion expansion at Lumwana to create one of the world’s biggest copper mines, with construction to begin late this year and production from the project expected by 2028.

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Critical minerals sector is ‘not healthy,’ says head of global gold giant – by Naimul Karim (Financial Post – February 18, 2024)

https://financialpost.com/

‘Just look at the so-called critical minerals industry today, lithium’s a bust, so is nickel’ — Barrick chief

The critical mineral industry required to power the energy transition away from fossil fuels is in an unhealthy state and running ahead of itself, says Barrick Gold Corp.’s chief executive Mark Bristow, who heads the world’s second-largest gold company.

Bristow said the mining sector is entering an era dominated by the demand for metals such as lithium, nickel and cobalt, but the projects containing these critical minerals are often led by promoters more focused on the short-term benefits rather than by “responsible miners” that are in it for the long run.

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Barrick Gold executive shuffle sees John Thornton moved to chair – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – February 15, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

The power structure at the upper tiers of the world’s second biggest gold company is shifting with the diminution in the role played by long-term Barrick Gold Corp. executive chairman John Thornton. Toronto-based Barrick on Wednesday announced that Mr. Thornton has moved from the role of executive chairman to chairman, a position that carries fewer responsibilities, lower pay, and much more clearly-defined parameters.

Barrick said the change in Mr. Thornton’s role was driven in part by governance considerations. In a regulatory disclosure alongside its latest quarterly earnings, Barrick said that considering Mr. Thornton had achieved key objectives following the company’s 2019 acquisition of Randgold Resources Ltd., this was both the right time for him to transition to chairman, and for the company to do away with the executive chairman role.

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