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Barrick Gold Corporation

Peter Munk to donate $1-million to Fort McMurray relief effort – by Kathryn Blaze Baum and Daniel LeBlanc (Globe and Mail – May 6, 2016)

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

TORONTO and OTTAWA — Mining magnate Peter Munk is donating $1-million to the Canadian Red Cross to help the thousands of people who have been displaced by the wildfires in the Fort McMurray area – a crisis that the philanthropist said reminds him of his own past as a refugee and marks an opportunity for Canadians to unite.

The Peter and Melanie Munk Charitable Foundation will on Friday announce the pledge, which will build on the roughly $11-million in donations that have flowed to the Red Cross fund dedicated to supporting those affected by the fire. The federal government announced Thursday that it will match all charitable donations to the organization, including those that had already been made.

Jean-Philippe Tizi, vice-president of emergency management at the Red Cross, said the money will be used to meet the immediate physical and psychological needs of affected citizens. But he added that the donations will also be used to help people rebuild their lives. “It’s going to take four or five years, but we’ll be there as long as it takes,” he said.

In an interview with The Globe and Mail, Mr. Munk said the footage of residents fleeing a burning city conjured thoughts of his own parents escaping a besieged Budapest during the Second World War.

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Slipping uneasily into retirement, Munk reflects on his Barrick legacy – by Eric Reguly (Globe and Mail – May 6, 2016)

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

ROME — As Peter Munk slips uneasily into retirement, he doesn’t really not want to be known for Porto Montenegro, the superyacht marina that he and his billionaire friends built on the Adriatic Sea. He wants to be known for Barrick Gold, the Toronto mining company that he cursed only two years ago but now praises as an industrial Lazarus.

On Friday, Mr. Munk, who is 88 and plotting his retreat to Lyford Cay, a gated community for the wealthy in the Bahamas, announced the sale of Porto Montenegro to the Investment Corp. of Dubai, the Persian Gulf country’s sovereign wealth fund, for an undisclosed amount.

Financially speaking, the sale is no big deal; at best, it earned a small profit for the Munk-led investment group that turned a rotted, former Yugoslavian naval base into one of the Mediterranean’s most glamorous yacht parking lots. Its greater significance is that it marks the end of an era for Mr. Munk. He insists he will never fully retire, and that he’s still got a few deals left in him, but he is unlikely to take on a project as big again.

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Grace under pressure: Nevada Turquoise Ridge miners recognized for rescue operation after rock failure traps colleagues (Barrick Beyond Borders – May 4, 2016)

http://barrickbeyondborders.com/

Leo Sanchez has worked at the Turquoise Ridge mine for 11 years, but he won’t soon forget the night of February 3, 2016. The shift started like any other. Sanchez, North Zone Supervisor at the Nevada-based underground mine, was reviewing survey maps with John Conklin, South Zone Supervisor. At 10:30 p.m., Sanchez’s radio sounded. It was Jonathon Long.

“I need you guys down here,” Sanchez recalls Long saying in a calm but urgent voice.

It was highly unusual to request both supervisors so Sanchez knew immediately something wasn’t right. When he arrived in Zone 4, the area in the north zone where Long was working with colleagues Gerald Hinz and David Reed, he understood why. A rock failure had occurred. The three miners were unhurt but partially cut off by more than 30 tons of downed rock. The ventilation system was damaged but still functional.

Sanchez and Conklin quickly but calmly assessed the situation to determine how best to safely extract the men.

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Papua New Guinea’s Struggle With Domestic and Sexual Violence – by Camilla Capasso (The Diplomat – May 2, 2016)

http://thediplomat.com/

PNG has some of the highest levels of family and sexual violence in the world.

Joanne showed severe signs of malnutrition when she walked with her 10-month-old baby girl into the Family Support Center in Port Moresby, the capital of Papua New Guinea. She told the staff of Doctors Without Borders that she had left her baby with the child’s father the day before to go out and beg for food.

When she returned home her daughter was distressed, she had a fever, and her genitals were swollen and bruised. Some time before, the child’s father had sexually abused Joanne’s eldest daughter, so Joanne instantly knew what had happened.

At the center, the staff of Doctors Without Borders tried to get both Joanne and her baby into short-term safe housing. After some time, a temporary room became available and the two moved in. Most safe houses in PNG don’t provide financial assistance and rules require that children are never left unattended.

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A mogul’s last big deal: Peter Munk to sell Montenegro marina – by Eric Reguly (Globe and Mail – May 2, 2016)

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

ROME – Barrick Gold founder Peter Munk is selling his last significant investment, Porto Montenegro, the superyacht marina and resort that he built as a Mediterranean rival to Cannes, to Investment Corp. of Dubai for an undisclosed amount.

Mr. Munk would not comment on the sale, which had been widely rumoured and was leaked over the weekend in the Montenegro newspaper Vijesti. On Sunday, sources said that Mr. Munk is to announce the sale on Friday.

The price is thought to be €200-million ($287.5-million) or more, though the seller and buyer are not expected to disclose the amount. In an interview in Montenegro in mid-2014, Mr. Munk said that the project by then had cost €287-million, split between debt and equity. The sale price is expected to leave Mr. Munk and his investors whole, with maybe a small profit.

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‘Barrick is back,’ chairman declares, as restructuring moves pay off with strong results – by Peter Koven (National Post – April 27, 2016)

http://business.financialpost.com/

TORONTO — Tuesday’s annual meeting had to feel like a pleasant change of pace for Barrick Gold Corp.’s directors and senior management: For the first time in years, there was no crisis to avert.

At last year’s meeting, shareholders were outraged over chairman John Thornton’s compensation. The year before that, there was frustration and confusion over the company’s failed attempt to merge with Newmont Mining Corp. And in 2013, there was yet another controversy over Thornton’s pay.

On Tuesday, Barrick executives could just focus on the company’s performance, which has been stellar over the past year. “Barrick is back,” Thornton told the audience in Toronto.

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Barrick Gold subsidiary evaded Tanzanian taxes, tribunal rules – by Geoffrey York (Globe and Mail – April 6, 2016)

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

JOHANNESBURG — The African subsidiary of Barrick Gold Corp. has engaged in a “sophisticated scheme of tax evasion” to dodge more than $40-million (U.S.) in corporate taxes, a Tanzanian tribunal has ruled.

The tribunal, headed by a High Court judge, said the subsidiary of the Toronto-based company had failed to pay any corporate taxes in Tanzania from 2010 to 2013 while still paying more than $400-million in dividends to its shareholders from its gold-mining profits in the East African country.

The tribunal ordered the company to pay $41.25-million in taxes to the Tanzanian government. The ruling is the latest sign of growing scrutiny of the tax arrangements of foreign investors worldwide, including Canada’s mining companies. The leaked documents known as the Panama Papers are another example of the mounting controversy over alleged tax avoidance.

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Barrick chairman John Thornton takes $10-million cut in pay – by Ian McGugan (Globe and Mail – March 24, 2016)

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

John Thornton has finally addressed the recurring outcry over his compensation – by taking a nearly $10-million (U.S.) cut in pay. The executive chairman of Barrick Gold Corp. will receive $3.1-million for his work in 2015, a dramatic reduction from the $12.9-million he pocketed for 2014.

Shareholders have twice voted against Mr. Thornton’s compensation package in recent years through non-binding “say-on-pay” resolutions, and he had vowed to address investors’ anger on the issue.

“Last year, our shareholders voiced concern about how we compensated our executive chairman,” said J.B. Harvey, chair of Barrick’s compensation committee. “We have listened carefully to their feedback.”

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Barrick CFO leaving to head up venture backed by Elliott Management – by Ian McGugan (Globe and Mail – March 18, 2016)

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

The departure of a key executive from Barrick Gold Corp. highlights the large amount of capital rushing into a red-hot corner of the mining world.

Shaun Usmar, the highly regarded chief financial officer at Barrick, is leaving to head up a new venture backed by the U.S. hedge fund Elliott Management Corp. that will focus “on royalty, streaming and other forms of investments in the mining industry,” according to a Barrick press release issued after markets closed on Wednesday.

Elliott Management has earned a reputation for smart, aggressive investing and is fresh from a resounding victory in its 15-year battle over Argentine debt. The involvement of the high-profile hedge fund demonstrates the lush potential payoffs that a growing number of investors now see in providing cash-strapped miners with access to capital.

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Barrick announces ‘drastic revision’ of Pascua-Lama, may add partner – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – March 2, 2016)

http://www.mining.com/

Canada’s Barrick Gold (TSX, NYSE:ABX), which recently regained its status as the world’s most valuable producer of the precious metal, has began a “drastic revision” of its mothballed Pascua-Lama project in South America.

According to Chilean news outlet El Pulso (in Spanish), the company’s President Kelvin Dushnisky revealed that management is re-evaluating plans for the gold, silver and copper mine straddling the border of Chile and Argentina, adding that Barrick does not rule out a possible partnership to bring the project to completion.

The giant project in the Andes has been shuttered since 2013, when a Chilean court ordered the company to halt construction over environmental concerns. Later that year, Barrick shelved the project citing massive cost overruns and nose-diving bullion prices.

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Barrick Chair Says Pay Problem Fixed as M&A Test Runs Begin – by Danielle Bochove (Bloomberg News – February 29, 2016)

http://www.bloomberg.com/

John Thornton looks on Barrick Gold Corp. as a patient finally ready for discharge from hospital and determined to abandon the fast living that landed it there.

In his first on-the-record interview in almost a year, the executive chairman of the world’s largest gold producer touched on all the hot-button issues — from his perspectives on acquisitions and disposals to the sprawl of his board to his own controversial pay packet.

Criticized for lacking industry experience, the 62-year-old banker-turned-miner could be forgiven if he chose to gloat: on his watch Barrick has transformed from market casualty to darling, culminating with a peer-beating 82 percent stock surge this year. A big-picture guy, he speaks in entire paragraphs from a mile above ground where the way forward is clear: it’s time for Barrick to get off the defensive, albeit cautiously.

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Barrick Gold Chairman John Thornton Outlines Vision and Strategy at Investor Day

Remarks by Chairman John Thornton at Barrick’s Investor Day on February 22, 2016, broadcast live via webcast. You may also listen to a recording of the remarks.

Good morning everyone and thank you for joining us.

This will be a little bit unusual for me—I’m going to work off a script, so that it’s crystal clear what I want to get across, and we can hand it out to you later on if you don’t want to take notes.

This is our first investor day in five years. From now on we will have this day every other year or possibly even every year, depending on the circumstances, and whether or not you all are interested in it. This will be one of a number of steps we will take to be transparent and build trust with you.

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Barrick Gold wants to show it’s a ‘discerning buyer’ with focus on value – by Ian McGugan (Globe and Mail – February 23, 2016)

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

After a year in which it sold off assets at a furious pace to cope with massive debt, Barrick Gold Corp. is once again talking about possible acquisitions.

John Thornton, chairman of the Toronto-based gold producer, told attendees at the company’s first investor day in five years that he wants to show Barrick can make purchases that create value, not just debt.

“We will, over time, prove to you that we are not only discerning sellers. … We will demonstrate that we are also discerning buyers, capable of consistently creating per-share value for our owners,” Mr. Thornton told his audience in New York. He did not provide details on what type of potential acquisitions might be attractive.

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Nevada might get huge investment from Barrick Gold – by Jennifer Robison (Las Vegas Review-Journal – February 23, 2016)

http://www.reviewjournal.com/

Nevada’s largest mining company is eyeing plans to invest big in its operations. Barrick Gold Corp. said Monday that it could spend $2.1 billion through 2020 expanding gold mines in Nevada and Peru, with about $1.4 billion of the investments set for the Silver State.

The biggest chunk — $1 billion — would go toward building an underground mine at Goldrush, a new deposit about 4 miles southeast of Barrick’s Cortez Hills operation near Elko. Once it starts producing in 2021, Goldrush could yield 440,000 ounces of gold each year. The deposit has an estimated 8.6 million ounces in gold resources.

Barrick is also evaluating expansion of underground mining at Turquoise Ridge, northeast of Winnemucca. The company would build a third production shaft at the site to nearly double annual gold production from 280,000 ounces to 500,000 ounces.

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Barrick estimates $2 billion costs if Nevada, Peru projects proceed (Reuters U.S. – February 22, 2016)

http://www.reuters.com/

Barrick Gold Corp (ABX.TO) (ABX.N), the world’s largest gold miner, estimated spending of about $2 billion if it decides to proceed with projects in Nevada and Peru.

Barrick, releasing updated pre-feasibility and feasibility studies on the projects, also said on Monday it would redeem up to $750 million of notes to help cut debt by at least $2 billion this year.

The company’s U.S.-listed shares were down about 3 percent at $12.18 in premarket trading on Monday.

Barrick said a pre-feasibility study estimated $1 billion in initial capital spending on its Goldrush project in Nevada, based on a start of construction in 2020.

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