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Barrick Gold Corporation

Barrick forges closer ties with Chinese partner in bid to revive South American mine – by Gabriel Friedman (Financial Post – July 9, 2018)

https://business.financialpost.com/

Barrick’s deal with Shandong shows how Chinese companies have in recent years stepped up their involvement with Canadian mining companies

Barrick Gold Corp. may be the largest gold miner in the world, but that hasn’t stopped it from asking a state-owned Chinese conglomerate to help in its decades-long quest to dig up a vast gold deposit near the border between Argentina and Chile.

On Monday, the Toronto-based company announced China’s Shandong Gold Group Co. Ltd. will study whether it makes sense to build an open pit, heap leach mine squarely inside Argentina — after Chilean authorities last year ordered the closure of mining activities on its side of the border.

The announcement, which came while Barrick’s senior management team visited China, shows the company’s growing reliance on Shandong as a partner. In April 2017, Shandong paid $960 million and formed a 50/50 joint venture in Barrick’s Veladero gold mine in Argentina, and the two agreed to explore future opportunities together.

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Acacia net cash restored after posting solid first half production – by David McKay (MiningMX – July 6, 2018)

https://www.miningmx.com/

ACACIA Resources all but restored its net cash balance to safer levels following second quarter gold production which totalled 133,778 ounces which means the group is on-track to meet its full year half production guidance of between 435,000 oz to 475,000 oz.

The group’s cash balance increased to $120m from $13m in the first quarter taking its net cash to $63m at quarter-end. It was about $50m at the close of the first quarter. “We are pleased to report another strong operating performance in the second quarter,” said Peter Geleta, interim CEO of Acacia Resources, in a statement.

Production for the six months ended June 30 was 254,759 oz and has been achieved in difficult circumstances for the group considering it scaled back Bulyanhulu after the mine was prohibited by Tanzanian authorities last year from exporting gold-in-concentrate.

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Acacia Mining’s Tanzania tax dispute drags on (Reuters Africa – June 25, 2018)

https://af.reuters.com/

LONDON (Reuters) – Acacia Mining said on Monday its majority shareholder Barrick Gold would not provide a new deadline for the completion of talks to end a crippling dispute over taxes in Tanzania after failing to meet a mid-year target to do so.

Barrick, which is negotiating on Acacia’s behalf with the Tanzanian government, had previously said it would provide an agreement for approval by Acacia’s board by the end of June.

But in its own statement on Sunday, Barrick said talks continued and backed away from providing a new deadline “in order to allow the process to continue in an orderly manner.”

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Tanzania cancels license of Barrick, Glencore nickel project – by Fumbuka Ng’wanakilala (Reuters U.S. – May 12, 2018)

https://www.reuters.com/

DAR ES SALAAM (Reuters) – Tanzania has revoked a retention license for an undeveloped nickel project jointly owned by Barrick Gold Corp and London-listed miner Glencore Plc as part of enforcement of a new mining regime.

The license for the Kabanga nickel project in northwestern Tanzania was among 11 retention licences canceled by the government under the Mining (Mineral Rights) Regulations of 2018, which were approved in January.

A retention license is granted to holders of a prospecting license after they identify a mineral deposit within the prospecting area which is potentially of commercial significance but cannot be immediately developed due to technical constraints, adverse market conditions or other economic factors.

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Barrick makes small bet on junior with hope for big payoff – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – May 10, 2018)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Welcome to the era of the micro deal. In a transaction about as far away as one could imagine from the multibillion-dollar deals of the past great commodity boom, Barrick Gold Corp. is taking a tiny bet on a junior mining company.

On Wednesday, the world’s biggest gold producer announced a 19.9-per-cent investment in Vancouver-based Midas Gold Corp. worth US$38-million. Barrick is acquiring 46.5-million shares at $1.06 a share, a 9-per-cent premium to its Tuesday close.

It’s the latest example of a senior gold company making a so-called “strategic investment” in a junior, with the hope that it will eventually pay off in the form of much needed added production.

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Is overseas expansion on the menu for Saudi mining colossus Ma’aden? – by Richard Wachman (Arab News – May 6, 2018)

http://www.arabnews.com/

LONDON: Saudi mining colossus Ma’aden is riding a wave of investor confidence as profitability is driven by robust commodity prices, growth in production across its minerals suite of phosphate, gold, copper and aluminum, as well as a cost-cutting program that has strengthened the balance sheet.

Now, there is market chatter that the next chapter of the growth story could be overseas. Some say Ma’aden will one day follow SABIC, KSA’s petrochemicals champion, by expanding its footprint in growth segments abroad, although its core business will always be at home.

“At the moment there is plenty of growth to go for in Saudi,” said Yousef Husseini, a broker at EFG Hermes in Cairo. “But in the longer term, the company could shift its focus to global expansion similar to what SABIC has done in the last couple of decades as local market opportunities decline.”

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Barrick, NovaGold project in Alaska gets key environmental approval – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – April 30, 2018)

http://www.mining.com/

Barrick Gold (TSX, NYSE:ABX) and NovaGold Resources’ (TSX, NYSE-MKT: NG) proposed gold mine in Alaska has received a long-waited final environmental clearance, granted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Canadian miners said Monday.

The Dolin project, one of the world’s largest, highest grade, known gold deposits, is expected to require a $6.7 billion investment from the two owners, which are developing in assets in a 50-50 partnership.

Located in in Southwest Alaska, the proposed mine contains 39 million ounces of gold in the measured and indicated (M&I) resource categories.

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Green future for gold company: Barrick Gold exec touts “digital transformation” of mining corporation at CIM Sudbury meeting – by Karen McKinley (Northern Ontario Business – April 24, 2018)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Barrick Gold isn’t alone in their plans to make their mining operations more automated and ecological. The plans to go green are not a secret, but Denis Gratton, vice-president of automation, spoke at the April 19 meeting of the Sudbury chapter of the Canadian Institute of Mining to elaborate on the company’s strategy.

Their plans include everything from chemical leaching to autonomous vehicles and artificial intelligence in a ground-up approach to change how the company does business.

For starters, Gratton said the company had to look at innovation as a whole, rather than merely changing a few machines or methods of working. To do that, the company established its own innovation team to work on projects in house and explore third-party partnerships.

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The Northern Miner’s video tribute to Peter Munk (Northern Miner – April 25, 2018)

 

To celebrate the life of Peter Munk (1927-2018), founder of Barrick Gold and recipient of The Northern Miner’s Lifetime Achievement Award, we have prepared this video tribute (see detailed slide notes below).

Read Trish Saywell’s feature story on the life of this remarkable man, “Mining titan and philanthropist Peter Munk’s lifetime of achievement.” https://bit.ly/2Fhdv6V

Peter Munk slide notes and timeline:

1927 – Born Nov. 8 in Budapest, Hungary, to a wealthy Jewish family.

1944 – Munk family flees Nazi-occupied Hungary, ultimately arriving in Switzerland on the Kastner train, which carried roughly 1,700 Jews to safety.

1948 – Comes to Canada on student visa.

1952 – Earns Electrical Engineering degree from University of Toronto.

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Barrick shifts focus to growth as it looks to replenish project pipeline after years of debt reduction – by Gabriel Friedman (National Post – April 25, 2018)

http://business.financialpost.com/

After several years marked by operational difficulties and debt reduction, Barrick Gold Corp. on Tuesday opened its first quarter earnings in 2018 by telling shareholders it received two credit upgrades and is returning its focus to growth.

Gold production hit 1.05 million ounces this quarter — down 20 per cent from last year and behind pace to meet its annual target of 4.5 to 5 million ounces — but in line with guidance.

Even if it meets that target, years of declining gold production from its peak of 8.6 million ounces in 2006 means that Barrick may lose its title as the world’s largest gold producer to Colorado-based Newmont Mining Corp., which is predicting production of between 4.9 million and 5.4 million ounces this year.

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Barrick scales back on its annual general meeting as mining footprint shrinks – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – April 25, 2018)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

No more fancy digs. No free food. And no epic speeches. In a sign of its more modest state, Barrick Gold Corp. hosted a sharply scaled back annual general meeting on Tuesday, the morning after delivering a first-quarter earnings report that was better than analysts expected.

Of the roughly 100 people in attendance at the AGM in a small conference room at the Cisco Toronto Innovation Centre, around 60 were Barrick representatives. Bankers, analysts, human rights protesters, and a smattering of shareholders filled out the rest.

Barrick’s executive chairman, John Thornton, paid tribute to company founder Peter Munk, who died last month at the age of 90. Mr. Thornton called Mr. Munk, who grew the company from scratch into the world’s biggest gold producer in the span of 23 years, an “iconic Canadian” and a “visionary entrepreneur.”

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Barrick Gold says focus on growth after deep debt cuts – by Nicole Mordant (Reuters U.S. – April 23, 2018)

https://www.bnn.ca/

https://www.reuters.com/

(Reuters) – Barrick Gold Corp (ABX.TO) said on Monday it was done selling assets to cut debt and would instead use funds from future sales for growth or to pay dividends, as it looks set to lose its rank as the world’s biggest gold producer due to declining production.

Toronto-based Barrick, which reported better-than-expected adjusted earnings, said its focus would increasingly be on growth from its own projects and operations in Nevada and the Dominican Republic.

The miner also said it had suspended work on a prefeasibility study on its massive Pascua-Lama gold and silver project in the Andes Mountains, which does not meet its investment criteria.

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Weak first quarter on tap for Canada’s gold producers – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – April 23, 2018)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Investors are bracing for a weak first quarter from Canada’s biggest gold companies with lower production and higher costs expected amid a marginally higher commodity price.

Barrick Gold Corp., the world’s biggest gold producer, reports Monday after the close, with Goldcorp Inc. and Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. to follow later in the week.

“We expect rising labour costs combined with higher energy and consumable costs to put upward pressure on both operating costs and all in sustaining costs (AISC) at maturing mines,” wrote Stephen Walker, head of global mining research with RBC Dominion Securities Inc. in a note previewing earnings season at the senior gold producers.

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Acacia Mining’s first-quarter profit slumps after Tanzania tax row (Reuters Canada – April 19, 2018)

https://ca.reuters.com/

LONDON (Reuters) – Acacia Mining (ACAA.L) reported a near 50 percent fall in first quarter earnings on Thursday after reducing operations at its flagship gold mine in Tanzania amid a tax dispute with the government.

Acacia, a unit of Canada’s Barrick Gold (ABX.TO) and Tanzania’s largest gold miner, said its gold production fell 45 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier to 120,981 ounces, mainly due to lower output at its flagship Bulyanhulu mine.

Acacia’s London-listed shares skidded 8.8 percent to 141 pence by 0919 GMT and have now tumbled more than 70 percent since Tanzania introduced a ban on concentrate exports in March 2017.

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Editorial: Peter Munk receives our Lifetime Achievement Award – by John Cumming (Northern Miner – April 11, 2018)

http://www.northernminer.com/

In this issue of The Northern Miner and at an event at our Canadian Mining Symposium at Canada House in London on April 24 and 25, we are awarding to Barrick Gold founder Peter Munk our Lifetime Achievement Award for transforming Barrick over several decades from a small producer into the world’s biggest gold producer in gold output and market value.

It’s an award that has been in the works for months, but it takes a bittersweet turn with Munk’s passing on March 28, 2018. Months ago he had graciously extended his thanks for the award in an email, but noted he was too ill to travel by air to accept any award in person.

Instead, Barrick president Kelvin Dushnisky is slated to accept the award on Munk’s behalf in London, and a celebratory dinner we’ve arranged that evening in Munk’s honour will now take on more poignancy.

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