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Barrick Gold Corporation

Barrick Gold takes home Social Responsibility Award – by Jim Middlemiss (Financial Post – June 9, 2016)

http://business.financialpost.com/

Building a mine in a foreign jurisdiction is no easy task, but one thing that needs to be high on any lawyer’s agenda is affirming locally the company’s social licence to operate, said Jonathan Drimmer, deputy general counsel at Barrick Gold Corp., this year’s recipient of the Social Responsibility award.

“I think we are seeing a slow, gradual change with lawyers becoming more involved in issues related to the social license to operate,” Drimmer said.

He should know. Prior to joining Barrick in 2011 to help oversee its social responsibility efforts, Drimmer was a private practitioner and law professor, teaching courses on humanitarian law and business. He once prosecuted war criminals for the U.S. Department of Justice. “I came to Barrick because of the company’s commitment to enhance its existing program,” he said.

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The Big Bet of 2016: Joining George Soros in Gold – by Stephanie Yang (Wall Street Journal – June 9, 2016)

http://www.wsj.com/

There is a new gold rush on. Abating expectations for Federal Reserve rate increases have fueled a fresh boom in everything that glitters, from gold futures to the shares of gold-mining firms to exchange-traded funds that give traders a way to bet on gold’s daily rise and fall.

Front-month Comex gold futures have been among the best-performing major asset classes in financial markets this year, up about 20% as of Thursday. But those gains have been dwarfed by the surge in many gold-related securities, the latest sign of the topsy-turvy trading across markets in 2016 that for now has transformed some of the least-beloved investments on Wall Street into top performers.

The gains reflect a vast shift in investor expectations over the past six months. Many analysts and portfolio managers entered 2016 expecting the U.S. dollar to resume its rise as the Fed carried out a series of interest-rate increases.

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After five lean years, gold miners gear up for growth – by Nicole Mordant and Susan Taylor (Reuters U.S. – June 8, 2016)

http://www.reuters.com/

VANCOUVER/TORONTO – For the first time in five years, Barrick Gold and other bullion miners are getting ready to expand, breaking from their monologue on cutting costs and debt because of tumbling gold prices.

Backed by healthier balance sheets, a 17 percent rise in the price of gold since January to $1,244 an ounce and new investors, miners from Canada to Australia and South Africa are studying ways to raise production.

At the world’s biggest gold miner, growth was not a priority in recent years, said Rob Krcmarov, Barrick’s vice president of exploration and growth, as the company sold assets to reduce its $14 billion debt by 40 percent. “Now some of our investors are starting to ask us: what is next?,” Krcmarov said. Barrick created a “growth committee” in March to evaluate in-house projects, exploration opportunities and acquisitions.

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Hemlo Mine reduces emissions by 24 percent, captures Canadian industry award (Barrick Beyond Borders – May 2016)

http://barrickbeyondborders.com/

Barrick’s Hemlo mine has been recognized by Canada’s Department of Natural Resources for its innovative energy conservation program. The northern Ontario-based mine received a Canadian Industry Program for Energy Conservation (CIPEC) Leadership Award for implementing a project that reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 24 percent and lowered energy consumption by 10 percent between 2013 and 2015. The award was presented at a ceremony Tuesday in Niagara Falls, Ontario, hosted by CIPEC through Natural Resources Canada and the Excellence in Manufacturing Consortium.

“Congratulations to Barrick Gold Corporation on their CIPEC Leadership Award,” says Kim Rudd, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Natural Resources. “Their vision for responsible mining and use of new technologies to improve energy efficiency are cutting-edge. I commend them on their extraordinary Hemlo mine that is helping to drive down energy consumption, cost and emissions.”

Hemlo was able to drive down energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions by optimizing its underground ventilation system, says Andrew Baumen, the mine’s General Manager.

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Barrick pays $140m to settle Pascua-Lama lawsuit – by Frik Els (Mining.com – May 31, 2016)

http://www.mining.com/

Barrick Gold (TSX, NYSE:ABX) has agreed to pay $140 million to resolve a US class-action lawsuit that accused the world’s largest gold producer of distorting facts related to its mothballed $8.5 billion Pascua-Lama project in South America.

Barrick confirmed the agreement disclosed in papers filed on Tuesday in Manhattan federal court, adding that the settlement is insured. In a statement the Toronto-based company said it “continues to believe that the claims alleged by the lead plaintiffs in the litigation are unfounded, and under the terms of the settlement agreement, the company has not accepted any charges of wrongdoing or liability.”

The lawsuit covers investors who acquired Barrick stock between May 7, 2009 and May 23, 2013. Shares in the company lost 44% of its value over that time period, with a large chunk of the losses coming in April and May that year. The class action alleged Barrick shareholders lost billions of dollars as a result of the company’s “misrepresentations and failures” regarding Pascua-Lama.

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Billionaire George Soros buys US$263.7 million stake in Barrick Gold – by John Shmuel (Financial Post – May 17, 2016)

http://business.financialpost.com/

Soros Fund Management made a big bet on Barrick Gold Corp. in the first quarter, scooping up a US$263.7 million stake in the miner. The fund, chaired by billionaire investor George Soros, disclosed that it now owns 19.4 million shares in Barrick, making it Soros’ largest U.S.-listed holdings and giving him a 1.7 per cent stake in the miner.

The bet on gold and Barrick has certainly been profitable. Barrick’s stock is up 138 per cent this year, making it one of the best performers on the TSX.

Barry Allan, senior mining analyst at Mackie Research Capital Corporation, said that the acquisition is part of the big move back into gold miners that has become one of the hottest rallies of the year. Many managers on Bay Street had emptied out of Barrick and other gold names over the past couple of years, leaving the companies heavily undervalued.

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[Barrick Gold] This Earth Day, trees and remediation take center stage (Barrick Beyond Borders – April 21, 2016)

http://barrickbeyondborders.com/

For a mining company, remediation is a process of returning the environment of a mine site to a stable condition that is similar to — if not better than — before the mine opened.

Today is the 46th World Earth Day, a day in which people around the world focus on environmental stewardship. This year’s Earth Day theme is trees for the Earth. The Earth Day Network, the non-profit which coordinates World Earth Day, has established the global goal of planting 7.8 billion trees — one for every person on the planet — in the next five years.

Barrick is contributing to this goal through its remediation work at its mines around the world. Remediation is a process that mining companies undertake to return the environment to a stable condition that is similar to, if not better than, what it was before the mine operated.

This process starts long before a mine closes.

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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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