Barrick Gold Corporation – Page 40

UPDATE 1-Former African Barrick Gold to go underground at North Mara – by Roshni Menon (Reuters India – November 27, 2014)

November 27, 2014

http://in.reuters.com/

Nov 27 (Reuters) – Acacia Mining Ltd, formerly African Barrick Gold Plc, said on Thursday it planned to start underground mining at its North Mara mine in Tanzania in the first half of 2015.

The open pit North Mara mine has a chequered past, with villagers illegally entering the site to scour tailings that may contain small quantities of gold, and some have been killed or injured by mine security guards and police.

“The North Mara decision to go underground … minimises our impact on the community, reduces the opportunity for illegal miners to enter that operation, and reduces our footprint with respect to needing land to dump waste,” Chief Executive Brad Gordon told Reuters on Thursday.

Acacia has been cutting mining costs, reducing its workforce and increasing output to counter the sharp drop in gold prices that has forced many gold and silver miners to shelve projects.

The company, unveiling its long-term strategy at an investor meeting in London, said the underground expansion was expected to produce 450,000 ounces of gold over a five-year mine life at an all-in sustaining cost (AISC) of under $750 per ounce.

NEWS RELEASE: Barrick Appoints Executive Project Director for Pascua-Lama

November 13, 2014

TORONTO, November 13, 2014 — Barrick Gold Corporation (NYSE:ABX)(TSX:ABX) (Barrick or the “company”) today announced the appointment of Sergio Fuentes as Executive Project Director for Pascua-Lama. Mr. Fuentes was most recently Vice President, Projects for Codelco and has nearly 30 years of mining industry experience, with a proven track record of engineering, optimizing and constructing complex mining projects, including high-altitude operations in the Andes.

As Executive Project Director, Mr. Fuentes will focus on optimizing detailed engineering, improving the project’s economics and developing a robust execution plan for remaining construction activities at Pascua-Lama. He will work with the project leadership team to advance Pascua-Lama in an environmentally responsible manner, in compliance with legal and regulatory requirements. In the short term, he will lead the completion of final engineering for the water management system in Chile and will work to reduce ongoing care and maintenance expenditures at the project.

Mr. Fuentes will work closely with Eduardo Flores, Executive Director, Chile and Guillermo Calo, Executive Director, Argentina to ensure alignment of all project activities in both Chile and Argentina and will support the development of enduring partnerships with governments, communities and other stakeholders in both countries.

A decision to restart the Pascua-Lama project will depend on resolution of permitting and legal matters in Chile and improved project economics. The company will only proceed with construction if the project meets minimum return-on-investment thresholds.

Barrick faces new setback over Zambia mine – by Rachelle Younglai (Globe and Mail – October 31, 2014)

October 31, 2014

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

Barrick Gold Corp. may idle its Zambian copper mine if the African government imposes a higher royalty, a potential blow to the Canadian company, which has worked hard to turn its fortunes around.

The world’s largest gold producer was in discussions with the government about reducing the proposed 20-per-cent rate when the Zambian president died this week, adding more uncertainty to the negotiations.

“At the end of the day if we are in a position where through a new tax regime the project doesn’t make money, then certainly we would have to consider suspending for a period of time,” Kelvin Dushnisky, Barrick’s co-president, said in an interview. “The copper remains in the ground. It’s not going anywhere. It wouldn’t make sense for us to run the mine just for the purpose of paying royalties and taxes.”

It’s another sign that the challenges are not over for Barrick, which like the rest of the gold industry continues to grapple with the fallout from weaker gold prices and expensive acquisitions gone wrong.

“The gold producers are stuck between a rock and a hard place,” said Pawel Rajszel, analyst with Veritas Investment Research. “There’s just not much the gold producers can do, except hope for a higher gold price.”

UPDATE 1-Zambia may be backing off steeper mine royalty rates -Barrick – by Nicole Mordant (Reuters India – October 30, 2014)

October 30, 2014

http://in.reuters.com/

Oct 30 (Reuters) – There are indications Zambia may be backing away from plans to impose a 20 percent royalty rate on open pit mining in the country, a top executive with Barrick Gold Corp said on Thursday.

Zambia’s Finance Minister Alexander Chikwanda rattled mining companies with investments in the copper-rich southern African country earlier this month when he announced that from January royalties on open pit mines will rise to 20 percent and on underground mines to 8 percent from 6 percent currently.

Barrick, which is the world’s biggest gold producer but also owns the Lumwana copper mine in Zambia, has said that a 20 percent royalty would seriously challenge the economics of the large open-pit mine.

“Our sense is that the government realizes that the numbers they have imposed will be very challenging for the industry,” Barrick co-president Kelvin Dushnisky said on a conference call to discuss the company’s third-quarter results, which were released late on Wednesday and beat market expectations.

“I don’t want to handicap anything, but going into this week, our sense is there would be movement away from that number. I can’t guarantee it but that’s certainly the direction discussions were going,” he said.

Barrick Gold Trims Cost Forecast After Expenses Drop – by Liezel Hill (Bloomberg News – October 30, 2014)

October 30, 2014

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Barrick Gold Corp. (ABX), the largest producer of the precious metal, reduced its forecast for operating costs this year after reporting third-quarter expenses that beat analysts’ estimates.

So-called all-in sustaining costs will be $880 to $920 an ounce, compared with a previous range of $900 to $940, Toronto-based Barrick said yesterday in its third-quarter earnings statement.

Barrick is among gold producers that have reined in spending and delayed growth plans after the metal’s 28 percent decline last year. Third-quarter costs fell 8.8 percent to $834 an ounce, compared with the $916 average of three estimates.

“Their earnings look reasonably good, the cash costs are good, the guidance looks good,” David Christensen, chief executive officer of San Mateo, California-based ASA Gold & Precious Metals Ltd., said in a phone interview. His company manages $250 million including Barrick shares. “All in all, it looks like they’ve done a good job.”

Earnings excluding one-time items were 19 cents a share, topping the 17-cent average of 23 estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Sales declined 13 percent to $2.6 billion, exceeding the $2.49 billion average estimate.

‘Please tell people about this:’ London students’ horror at Dominican Republic mines – by Mark Spowart (Metro News – October 27, 2014)

October 27, 2014

http://metronews.ca/

Three London students were shocked by what they found last winter during a trip to the Dominican Republic. Canadian mining companies, they say, are destroying lives in the country.

“We visited the Barrick Gold mine, and while we were there, we spoke with a woman named Juliana (Rodriguez). She is 82 years old and has lived in the area for all of her life,” Klaire Gain said. “She told us the last four years, which (has seen) Barrick Gold mining in the region, have been the worst years of her life.”

Now, Gain, Claire Morrow and Natasha Jimenez — all recent graduates of the social justice and peace program at King’s University College — are working to show the world what they witnessed. Using their own money, and some brought in through fundraisers, the trio travelled back to the region this summer.

They spent two months living in the area, working on farming co-ops, meeting and talking with as many residents, along with environmental and academic experts, as they could. They also hired former CBC cameraman Mark Visser, and flew him to the region where he filmed more than 100 hours of footage for a documentary expected to be ready by spring 2015.

UPDATE 2-African Barrick tightens full-year costs target – by Roshni Menon (Reuters India – October 23, 2014)

October 23, 2014

http://in.reuters.com/

Oct 23 (Reuters) – African Barrick Gold Plc tightened its costs target for the full year as it increased output while also cutting jobs to beat the sharp drop in gold prices.

The miner reported a fall in overall expenses for an eighth successive quarter after it cut more than 500 jobs at its flagship Bulyanhulu mine in Tanzania in the third quarter ended Sept. 30.

African Barrick’s stock was among the top percentage gainers on the FTSE-250 Midcap Index on Thursday, rising as much as 4.8 percent in early trading.

To beat shrinking gold prices, African Barrick has been accelerating production at Bulyanhulu, the largest of its three operating mines in Tanzania, by increasing its use of technology.

Many gold and silver miners were forced to shelve new projects and slash costs last year after prices of precious metals fell to their lowest in a decade. Gold fell 28 percent and silver plunged 36 percent in 2013. “By the end of next year we expect Bulyanhulu to produce 350,000 ounces at $900 per ounce,” Chief Executive Bradley Gordon told Reuters.

[Nevada] State needs to extract more taxes from mining – by Bob Fulkerson (Las Vegas Review-Journal – October 12, 2014)

October 14, 2014

http://www.reviewjournal.com/

On Nov. 4, Nevada voters will decide whether to remove mining’s unique, 150-year-old tax protections from the state constitution and allow the Legislature to update the mining tax system to reflect modern times. Passage of Question 2 won’t raise or lower the taxes that mining pays. But it will remove the special protection that no other industry in our state enjoys.

Nevada’s mining taxes are nearly nonexistent compared with the rest of the world, and we are one of three states with no corporate profits tax to help pay for the services that benefit those corporations. Billions of dollars of mineral wealth has been extracted here; the vast majority has been exported. It’s been that way since statehood, when gold and silver from the Comstock built San Francisco and the Pacific Stock Exchange.

Nevada is the No. 1 gold producer in the United States and one of the top five gold producers in the world. Mining corporations account for 98 percent of toxic chemicals released in Nevada, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, and a single gold ring leaves in its wake, on average, 20 tons of mine waste. The average gold mine uses enough water to provide the basic water needs for a population equivalent to that of a large American city for a year.

In 2011, the laundry list of deductions, coupled with the fact that the mining companies had rarely, if ever, been audited by the state, came to light during hearings.

NEWS RELEASE: Barrick Named the Exclusive Provider of Gold, Silver and Bronze for the Medals at Toronto 2015 Pan Am/Parapan Games

September 30, 2014

TORONTO, September 29, 2014 – Barrick Gold Corporation is joining the TORONTO 2015 Pan Am/Parapan Am Games as its Official Metal Supplier. Toronto-based Barrick (NYSE:ABX) (TSX:ABX) will supply all the raw materials used to make the more than 4,000 gold, silver and bronze medals awarded at the Games.

Just like the athletes coming to the Games, the metal for their medals will come from the Pan American region. The metals will be sourced from Barrick mines throughout the Americas.

“Barrick is a proud Canadian company with operations around the globe, including six Pan American countries,” said Barrick Co-President Kelvin Dushnisky. “With the 2015 Pan Am and Parapan Games being held in our hometown of Toronto, we saw a rare opportunity to do something that symbolizes our pride in our heritage and our commitment to our host countries. We look forward to welcoming the athletes and government representatives to Toronto next summer.”

“Barrick and all of its people are excited to supply the metals that will become the treasured symbols of the dedication, teamwork and excellence that will be on display in Toronto at the Games,” said Barrick Co-President Jim Gowans. “These are values we share at Barrick and try to live every day. Next summer’s Games will be a great opportunity to bring the Americas together, celebrate our shared values and learn from our differences, all while enjoying more than three weeks of athletic excellence.”

The Games are a high-profile event that will attract interest from around the world, including up to 380 million viewers across the Americas alone.

NEWS RELEASE: Barrick Named Mining Industry Leader by the Dow Jones Sustainability Index

September 15, 2014

TORONTO, September 15, 2014 — Barrick Gold Corporation has been named to the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index for the seventh consecutive year and has been ranked as the top performer in the mining industry category.

“We are honored to be included in this highly-respected index once again this year. Our goal is to be a responsible partner in resource development, ensuring our operations generate positive and sustainable benefits for all of our stakeholders, including governments, communities and investors,” said Co-President Kelvin Dushnisky.

“Achieving industry-leading social and environmental performance is a critical element of how we define operational excellence at Barrick,” said Co-President Jim Gowans. “This recognition is a testament to our people around the world, who make responsible mining a focus of what they do every day.”

Barrick was also included on the Dow Jones Sustainability North America Index for the eighth year in a row.
In 2013, Barrick contributed $15.2 billion in economic value-add to its host countries and communities through wages and benefits, royalties and taxes, local purchasing of goods and services and community investments. This included $7.1 billion in developing and emerging countries.

The Dow Jones Sustainability Index evaluates more than 3,000 companies annually using rigorous sustainability criteria to identify top performers.

UPDATE 1-Barrick scraps corporate development team, further cuts coming -sources – by Euan Rocha and Nicole Mordant (Reuters U.S. – August 27, 2014)

August 28, 2014

http://www.reuters.com/

Aug 26 (Reuters) – Barrick Gold Corp is eliminating its entire corporate development team and more cuts are in the works as the world’s top gold miner looks to trim costs, three sources familiar with the situation said on Tuesday.

The sources, who asked not to be named as they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly, said Rick McCreary, the development team’s head, is leaving the company this week, with some others on the team set to depart next month.

The corporate development team’s main role was to identify and evaluate assets worth buying. McCreary, a former investment banker with CIBC, has led the team within Barrick since 2011.

A spokesman for Barrick declined to comment on whether the company was doing a wider round of cuts, which the sources said would be announced in the coming weeks. He confirmed, however, that the corporate development team was being restructured with some staff moving into other groups.

“The change reflects our focus on achieving operational excellence across the company, with an emphasis on optimizing our existing portfolio and further improving efficiency across our operations,” said Andy Lloyd, a spokesman for Barrick Gold.

Some staff from the corporate development team will stay on as part of a newly minted business development unit, while most others depart the company.

Deadly clashes continue at African Barrick gold mine – by Geoffrey York (Globe and Mail – August 27, 2014)

August 27, 2014

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

JOHANNESBURG — Police have killed more villagers in clashes at a controversial Tanzanian gold mine owned by a Barrick Gold Corp. subsidiary, despite the company’s pledges to reduce the violence, researchers say.

The researchers, including a law firm and two civil society groups, say they’ve received reports that as many as 10 people have been killed this year as a result of “excessive force” by police and security guards at the North Mara mine, owned by African Barrick Gold, a subsidiary of Toronto-based Barrick.

A spokesman for African Barrick confirmed to The Globe and Mail that “fatalities” have occurred in clashes at the mine site this year, but declined to estimate how many. It is up to the Tanzanian police to release the information, he said.

Tanzanian police have repeatedly refused to give any details on fatalities at the site. Dozens of villagers have been killed by police at the mine in the past several years, according to frequent reports from civil society groups. The company occasionally confirms some of the deaths, including a clash in which police killed five people in 2011.

The deadly clashes occur when villagers walk into the mine site in search of waste rock, from which small bits of gold can be extracted. Hundreds or even thousands of “intruders,” as they are known locally, can be involved.

Donlin gold mine brings hope of jobs — and fear of destruction – by Lisa Demer (Alaska Dispatch News – August 23, 2014)

August 25, 2014

http://www.adn.com/

DONLIN GOLD WORK CAMP — On a remote ridge in the big, open space between Bethel and Anchorage, where the land and minerals are owned by Alaska Native corporations, developers want to cut deep into the earth to extract microscopic bits of gold.

The Donlin Gold project is moving quietly forward. Backers are seeking key government permissions and trying to secure the trust of local residents.

Developers say the mine’s design will be the safest, most stable possible. A wealth of good jobs would open up in the cash-starved Western Alaska region if Donlin is developed, project sponsors say.

Still, the nature of large-scale gold mining incites anxiety and doubt among people who depend on the land and water as their sources of food.

The mine site is 10 miles from the Kuskokwim River near a salmon-producing stream, Crooked Creek. The project would disturb rock and soils laden with arsenic, mercury and other heavy metals; use cyanide in the production of the gold; bring barges loaded with diesel and other supplies upriver daily in ice-free months; and create a 2-mile-long, 1-mile-wide open pit where the hilltop used to be.