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Barrick Gold Corporation

Automation becoming more prevalent in mining, says executive (CBC News Sudbury – November 03, 2016)

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/sudbury/

Automation is the key to the future of innovation in the industry, experts say

Mining companies are starting to transform how they operate, namely by embracing automation in underground work, according to a senior executive at Barrick Gold.

Michelle Ash, the senior vice president of transformation and innovation for the Toronto-based mining company spoke at the mining innovation summit in Sudbury, Ont., which wrapped up Tuesday. The wear and tear on the componentry is significantly less,” she said of the use of automated equipment underground.

“We’ve seen that in our Hemlo Mine, where trucks have gone in for their major rebuild at 20,000 hours and … everything is almost pristine.” A number of components didn’t even need to be replaced, she added.

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New water treatment plants help secure a positive legacy (Barrick Beyond Borders – October 20, 2016)

http://barrickbeyondborders.com/

Water treatment plants at the Pierina mine in Peru are an important part of the mine’s closure plan

As part of its mine closure obligations, Barrick’s Pierina mine has built two new water treatment plants to safeguard local water quality. The Peru-based mine, which is winding down operations after 18 years, also built a cyanide detoxification plant to treat cyanide contained in the site’s heap leach pad.

“Cyanide is often used to leach gold contained inside ore, and this was the case at Pierina,” says Jorge Lobato, Environmental and Closure Manager at Pierina. “Even when operations at Pierina come to an end, cyanide will be present in the solutions from the heap leach pad and must be treated. The cyanide detoxification plant will operate until all cyanide has been consumed or destroyed on site.”

Pierina is located about 185 miles north of Lima in a high precipitation region of Peru. Average annual rainfall is 1,200 millimeters which, combined with natural conditions of the area, make conditions ripe for acid rock drainage. Acid rock drainage refers to the acidification of water that occurs when sulfide-based ore is exposed to air and water.

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Chinese miners eyeing Barrick mine face regulatory morass Susan Taylor and Luc Cohen (Reuters U.S. – October 28, 2016)

http://www.reuters.com/

TORONTO/BUENOS AIRES – Chinese state-owned miners considering buying into Barrick Gold Corp’s (ABX.TO) operations in Argentina would take on assets that are under regulatory scrutiny and entangled in lawsuits and investigations.

China’s Zijin Mining Group Co (601899.SS) and Shandong Gold Mining Co (600547.SS) have held separate talks to buy a 50-percent stake in the Veladero gold mine, one of Barrick’s core mines, four sources with knowledge of the process told Reuters this week.

Barrick would like any buyer to also make an investment in its nearby Pascua-Lama gold and silver project, two of the sources said. On Thursday, Barrick’s president said the company will consider offers to buy some or all of its core mines.

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Exclusive: Chinese miners in talks for stake in Barrick’s Veladero mine – sources – by John Tilak and Nicole Mordant (Reuters U.S. – October 25, 2016)

http://www.reuters.com/

TORONTO/VANCOUVER – China’s Zijin Mining Group Co Ltd and Shandong Gold Mining Co Ltd have held separate talks with Barrick Gold Corp to buy a 50 percent stake in its Veladero gold mine in Argentina, according to four sources with knowledge of the process.

Veladero is one of Barrick’s five core mines, which are all in the Americas. It is expected to produce between 580,000 and 640,000 ounces of gold this year.

The high quality of the mine, production capacity and the prospect for geographical diversification have appealed to the state-owned Chinese suitors, said three of the sources, who requested anonymity because the matter is private. All of the persons spoke over the past week.

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Newmont, Barrick Agree More on Present Than Future Value of Mine – by Danielle Bochove (Bloomberg News – October 17, 2016)

http://www.bloombergquint.com/

(Bloomberg) — A split between the world’s two largest gold producers over the value of their jointly owned Australian mine is more about future economic expectations than what’s in the ground.

That’s the view of Newmont Mining Corp.’s Gary Goldberg, who has been saying for over a year he’d be interested in buying Barrick Gold Corp.’s half of the Kalgoorlie Super Pit — at the right price. Since Barrick officially started a sales process of the 50 percent stake in July, a wide field of potential bidders is said to have formed to vie with Newmont for the stake in Australia’s largest open-pit gold mine.

“We’re not misaligned in terms of where we see some of the value of the resource that’s there,” Newmont’s chief executive officer said in an interview with Bloomberg TV Canada. “But people have different assumptions on exchange rates, and gold price, those sorts of things.”

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Argentina judge to rule on suspended Barrick mine soon -local gov’t (Reuters U.S. – September 28, 2016)

http://www.reuters.com/

Barrick Gold Corp’s Veladero mine in Argentina could reopen in coming days if a report confirms repairs were made after a leak of processing solution containing cyanide earlier this month, a provincial government said.

San Juan province Mining Minister Alberto Hensel said in a statement on Tuesday that a team of police investigators would deliver a technical report within 48 hours to the judge who ordered the temporary suspension.

“If all the repairs have been completed and the mining police give the OK… there will be no reason to sustain the injunction,” said Judge Pablo Oritja, according to the provincial government’s statement.

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Barrick sees ‘perfect storm’ brewing around cost-effective renewables (MiningWeekly.com – September 20, 2016)

http://www.miningweekly.com/

VANCOUVER – Renewable-energy sources have reached the stage where they can reduce energy costs as well as emissions, Barrick Gold’s senior manager of energy and greenhouse gases (GHGs), Russell Blades, tells Energy and Mines.

“We are seeing a ‘perfect storm’ brewing around renewables. Solar and energy storage are improving in efficiencies and reducing in costs. Renewables are already cost-effective in many areas compared to traditional fossil fuel power options,” Blades says, adding that, in terms of further reducing Barrick Gold’s energy costs and emissions, the company sees renewables as having an important role to play alongside its energy management and fuel switching initiatives.

Moreover, with governments, investors and stakeholders more focused on carbon emissions, pricing and climate change, mines are moving more towards electrification and automation. “Barrick recognises this global trend and is trying to get ahead of the curve to be a market leader to benefit our shareholders and other stakeholders,” Blades notes.

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Barrick says Argentina mine may resume within two weeks – by Nicole Mordant(Reuters U.S. – September 19, 2016)

http://www.reuters.com/

DENVER – Barrick Gold’s Veladero gold mine in Argentina, one of its five core mines, could resume operations in the next two weeks, Barrick President Kelvin Dushnisky said in an interview on Monday.

“I am hopeful that it could be up and going in that kind of two-week window depending on how the reparation work goes,” Dushnisky said.

Barrick Gold said on Thursday that mine operations were temporarily suspended by the government after a “small quantity” of processing solution containing cyanide leaked outside a processing area.

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Top Gold Miners Locked in Standoff in Australian Outback – by Danielle Bochove (Bloomberg News – September 20, 2016)

http://www.bloomberg.com/

Deep in the heart of Australia’s dusty outback, the world’s biggest gold mining companies are locked in a standoff.

At the center of the impasse is a 50 percent stake in the country’s largest open-pit gold mine, known as the Kalgoorlie super pit. Barrick Gold Corp., the No. 1 bullion producer, wants to sell its 50 percent holding of the pit. Newmont Mining Corp., which stands at No. 2 and already owns half the mine — and operates it — wants to buy. That’s where the simplicity ends.

Toronto-based Barrick has opened up a bidding process for its half of the mine, and President Kelvin Dushnisky expects the auction to be competitive. Initial indications are very positive,” Dushnisky said Monday in an interview from Colorado Springs during the Denver Gold Forum. “We think it’s going to be a strong process.”

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For mining companies, digitization is the next gold rush – by John Chambers and John Thornton (Globe and Mail – September 19, 2016)

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

John Chambers is executive chairman of Cisco. John Thornton is executive chairman of Barrick Gold.

Canada was built on its mining heritage. Today, the industry contributes about $54-billion a year to Canada’s gross domestic product – a driving force of the national economy. Yet mining lags behind other industries in one critical aspect: digital innovation.

That shortcoming significantly threatens the industry’s ability to meet future demands and survive in the digital age. By 2020, 75 per cent of businesses will be a digital business or preparing to become one. Companies that fail to embrace this trend will not survive.

Compounding this challenge, the mining industry faces lower commodity prices and maturing mines that are becoming more expensive to operate and less productive. In 2014, the combined value of the top 40 global mining companies shrank by $156-billion (U.S.), approximately 14 per cent.

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Barrick’s Argentina mine suspended after cyanide spill – by Susan Taylor (Reuters/Globe and Mail – September 15, 2016)

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

TORONTO — Reuters – Barrick Gold Corp said on Thursday that operations at its Veladero mine in Argentina were temporarily suspended by the government after a “small quantity” of processing solution that contains cyanide leaked outside a processing area.

The solution flowed over a berm surrounding the leach pad where gold is processed after a pipe was damaged on Sept. 8 by a large block of ice that rolled down a valley slope, Barrick said.

The affected ground and other material was collected and returned to the pad, said Barrick spokesman Andy Lloyd. “We are working with authorities to confirm the volume estimate,” he said.

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Fool’s Gold the Only Find for Barrick Going High Tech: Gadfly – by David Fickling (Washington Post/Bloomberg – September 13, 2016)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/

(Bloomberg) — Modern miners are phenomenally good at making money from turning base rock into gold.

The average deposit contains just 1.01 grams of the precious metal for every metric ton of ore, according to a 2013 report by Natural Resource Holdings. To put that in perspective, you’d need to crush and process a Statue of Liberty’s worth of ore at that grade to extract just two teaspoons of gold — worth about $8,800 at current spot prices.

For decades, miners have seen those grades fall, and fall, and fall, leading to yet-to-be-realized fears the world is facing peak gold. Back in the late 1960s, mined gold came in at more than 10 grams a ton on average, according to MinEx Consulting. Nowadays, Barrick, the world’s biggest gold miner, sees the 1.32 grams/ton grade in its reserves as something to boast about — and not without justification.

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Silver Wheaton has fingers crossed for Pascua-Lama project’s revival – by Ian McGugan (Globe and Mail – September 13, 2016)

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Randy Smallwood would be happy – eager, even – to contribute a billion dollars toward the restart of Pascua-Lama, the massive gold project in South America that Barrick Gold Corp. mothballed three years ago.

In fact, Mr. Smallwood, the chief executive officer of Silver Wheaton Corp. of Vancouver, can’t help rubbing his hands – literally – at the prospect of a Pascua-Lama revival.

“It’s the best half-built gold mine in the world,” he says in an interview. He adds: “We’re willing to work with Barrick in terms of helping them finance a restart.” For Mr. Smallwood and his company, a re-emergence of Pascua-Lama would help solve a problem: The disappearance of big deals in the so-called “streaming” sector.

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Barrick turns to Cisco to drag gold mining into digital era – by Danielle Bochove and Dina Bass (Financial Post/Bloomberg – September 12, 2016)

http://business.financialpost.com/

The biggest gold producer is joining forces with an even larger tech giant to drag the traditional world of mining into the new millennium.

Barrick Gold Corp. signed a deal with Cisco Systems Inc. for a “digital reinvention” of its global mining operations, the Toronto-based miner said in a statement Monday. The partnership — struck between Barrick Executive Chairman John Thornton and Cisco Chairman John Chambers — will start with the Cortez mine in Nevada.

The goal is to cut costs and wring additional value out of existing mines. For example, Barrick expects a flow of real-time data will allow it to predict when equipment is likely to need maintenance and to adjust mine plans quickly as conditions such as prices, weather or ore grades change. The partnership will increase cash flow over the long term while reducing environmental impact and increasing transparency with governments and communities, Thornton said.

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Barrick to take smaller, phased approach to Argentina-based Pascua-Lama project – by Henry Lazenby (Mining Weekly.com – September 1, 2016)

http://www.miningweekly.com/

VANCOUVER (miningweekly.com) – Major miner Barrick Gold has appointed former executive George Bee to lead the development of a smaller, phased operation at its stalled Pascua-Lama project, straddling the Chile/Argentina border, the company said Thursday.

Barrick had halted the project in 2013 after investing $5-billion in it. As well as permitting issues, cost overruns and a sharp drop in bullion prices, it faced the strong and organised opposition of the local indigenous communities.

Pascua-Lama was originally expected to cost no more than $3-billion when construction was approved in 2009. However, the cost of the project has since escalated to $8.5-billion.

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