Barrick Gold (ABX)

BIG TROUBLE FOR BARRICK AT PASCUA LAMA??

Pascua Lama is one of Barrick’s largest gold and silver mines that is slated to be in commercial production by mid 2013. Harvey Organ believes Pascua Lama should have been in commercial production several years ago, but problems associated with Glaciers have kept them from doing so.

There has been on ongoing debate about the Glacier and water issues in both Chile and Argentina as it pertains to Barrick’s mining operation of Pascua Lama.

I also believe there is bad news coming out of Pascua Lama. Again, this represents 25% of Barrick’s gold reserves and if Pascua Lama is not allowed to go commercial, it would be disastrous for Barrick’s stock price, balance sheet and contractual obligation to supply Silver Wheaton 170-200 million ounces of silver.

If Pascua Lama is unable to mine gold and silver without threatening the glaciers in both Argentina and Chile, Barrick will have to go into the futures markets and purchase silver to deliver to Silver Wheaton at its contractual price of $3.90 an ounce.
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The fall of Aaron Regent as CEO of world No. 1 gold miner, Barrick Gold last week highlights the unenviable task facing top management of a major mining company these days - and of gold company CEOs in particular.

Barrick, like the other gold majors, is having a tough time maintaining, or increasing, its gold production as to do so nowadays requires what might be considered increasing risk taking requiring developing massive mining projects in increasingly hostile geographical, technical and political environments to replace depletion in existing mining operations. ...

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bushi said:

"Only when we kill the last buffalo, and poison the last river, and catch the last fish, people will realize that they cannot eat money". That is re: endangering glaciers, and in general, resource depletion causing increasingly destructive methods required to tap these deteriorating natural reserves.

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SGTreport has released an interview with Chilean miner Jorge Lopehandia, in which Lopehandia makes shocking claims against Barrick Gold Corporation, the world largest gold producer. Jorge alleges that Barrick Gold used unethical and potentially illegal actions in the attempt to strip control of Jorge’s Chilean mine claims at Pascua Lama in Chile.

The allegations, if true, could not only end Barrick’s quest for gold on the Pascua Lama property (one of the largest gold reserves on earth), it could bankrupt Barrick altogether, and potentially help release the price of gold from the clutches of the precious metals price fixing cartel. Jorge claims that Barrick, in cahoots with criminal bank HSBC, has sold millions of ounces of Pascua Lama gold into the market, while to date, never having mined a single ounce of gold from the property.

Exclusive SGTReport interview regarding Lopehandia’s shocking claims against Barrick Gold is below:

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BRIEF-Barrick comments on Chilean court suspension of its controversial Pascua-Lama project
(Reuters) - Barrick Gold Corp : * Comments on chilean court suspension of its controversial pascua-lama project * Says has not been notified of the decision by the court * Says impossible for it to comment on its content or implications, at this

time * Says once notified, it will review the matter in detail and respond to the

actions

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"A Chilean court temporarily suspended the construction of Barrick Gold Corp's (ABX.TO, ABX) Pascua-Lama gold and silver mine after indigenous communities protested the controversial project was destroying glaciers and harming water supply," according to a Reuters story.

The report said: "The northern court of Copiapo will analyze the communities' complaints of "environmental irregularities" against the project, which has already been plagued by soaring costs and stiff opposition from environmental groups."

Read more: http://www.nasdaq.com/article/marke...lumps-to-fresh-yr-lows-cm235436#ixzz2Q4JtlOdR

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TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Apr 10, 2013) - Barrick Gold Corporation (ABX)(ABX.TO) (Barrick or the "company") is aware of media reports indicating that a Chilean court has issued a preliminary injunction pending a full hearing, halting construction activities on the Chilean side of the Pascua-Lama project. The company has not yet been formally notified of the court order and will assess the potential implications once it has received official notification.

Construction activities in Argentina, where the majority of Pascua-Lama's critical infrastructure is located, including the process plant and tailings storage facility, are not affected.

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Barrick Gold Corp. (ABX) founder Peter Munk sees a successor in former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) President John Thornton as the world’s biggest gold miner tries to reverse a 54 percent plunge in market value in the past year.

“I searched the world for a successor,” Munk, the 85- year-old chairman of Barrick, said yesterday in an e-mailed statement. “I am delighted I found John. I am confident he will take Barrick to a new level as a global player.”
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Thornton remains a professor and director of Tsinghua University’s global leadership program. He’s also chairman of the board of trustees of Washington-based Brookings Institution, sits on the boards of HSBC Holdings Plc, Ford Motor Co. and China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd. and has served as a director of Intel Corp. and News Corp.

Thornton, also a member of the international advisory board of China Investment Corp., the nation’s sovereign wealth fund, is one of the top foreign experts on China, said Dominic Barton, the London-based managing director of McKinsey & Co.
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Facing sliding prices for gold and its shares, as well as a shareholder revolt on executive pay, the top brass at Barrick Gold Corp. vowed Wednesday to cut costs and take a hard look at the company’s operations.

Executives of the world’s biggest gold mining company revealed plans to cut at least $500 million (U.S.) from spending on major projects this year, and may consider suspending work at its troubled Pascua-Lama development in South America.
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Last week, institutional investors, including the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System, and Ontario Teachers Pension Plan, expressed concern over an $11.9 million signing bonus awarded by Barrick to co-chairman John Thornton.
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The bonus, paid last June, was used to purchase Barrick shares which are held in trust for Thornton’s children and are subject to a holding period, according to the company’s latest management proxy circular.

“John was prepared to give up his other options. Believe me he was a highly desirable well-known commodity,” Barrick founder and chairman Peter Munk told shareholders. “When we paid the kind of money we paid John to buy Barrick shares with, we had to secure him.”
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Barrick said it would cut its capital spending by $500 million and reduce exploration spending by $100 million.

Work on the Pascua-Lama silver and gold development in the Andes mountains was suspended by an appeals court in Chile amid environmental concerns. Barrick said it will work to address the regulatory concerns.

“We’re serious about disciplined capital allocation,” Sokalsky told shareholders. “That means we need to consider all options, including the possibility of suspending the project.”
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Barrick Gold is considering suspending the Pascua Lama project or developing a smaller pit on the Argentinian side of the project, among other options, Barrick officials announced Wednesday.
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Meanwhile, Barrick reported production of 1.8 million ounces of gold during the first quarter at all-in sustaining cost of $919 per ounce. This compared to first-quarter 2012 production of 1.88 million ounces of gold at an all-in sustaining cost of $909 per ounce.

The company also reported copper production of 127 million pounds during the first quarter of the year at fully allocated costs of $3 per pound. This compares to first-quarter 2011 copper production of 117 million pounds at fully allocated costs of $2.68 per pound.

Barrick reaffirmed 2013 gold production guidance of 7 million to 7.4 million ounces of gold with full year all-in sustaining cost guidance being reduced from the previous $1,000 to $1,100 per ounce to the new guidance of $950-$1050 per ounce.
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... with gold marching higher in 2008 and 2009, investors pressured mining executives to unwind the hedges and give them greater leverage to gold prices Barrick Gold Corp. ABX.T +0.41%, the largest miner by production and market capitalization, took the plunge in late 2009, spending more than $5 billion to buy back its gold hedges.

“With the hedge book gone, we now have full leverage for the gold price,” Barrick’s then-chief executive, Aaron Regent, said in early 2010.
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“Our policy is not to hedge gold,” a Barrick spokesman said on Tuesday. “That reflects what we hear from our investors.”
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The chief executive of Tanzania's largest gold miner, African Barrick Gold PLC (ABG.LN), said Thursday the company has no plans to hedge its gold production following the recent gold price rout.

"When we talk to all of our investors over the last three years, none of our investors are really interested in us [hedging]. They want the exposure to the gold price," Greg Hawkins told Dow Jones Newswires in an interview.
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Eric King: “There was another interview yesterday on KWN with James Turk, and he was actually discussing the fact that a major mining company appears to have gotten itself into trouble with some hedging. Turk was talking about 65 million ounces of silver that was hedged, and significant amounts of gold as well. The project they were hedging this for has now been halted due to a government court order. This mine was supposed to produce 800,000 ounces of gold and 35 million ounces of silver annually. Turk suggests this situation is setting up to create a major short squeeze.”

Sinclair: “The company that was foremost in the hedging of gold in the 1990s, and early 2000s, and whose Chairman preached the religion of selling over the counter derivatives forward on gold, is once again forward selling future gold production.
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But also consider that according to its 31 March 2013 financial report, Barrick has hedged 65 million ounces of silver, which is 8% of the world's annual silver production. What is the bullion bank, who sold that hedge to Barrick, going to do if those 65 million ounces don't get mined and delivered to it?

What is Barrick going to do if the bullion bank forces it to deliver physical silver to close the hedge? What are the shorts in silver going to do when they realize that there is a potential time bomb here that could substantially reduce the near-term forecast of silver supply?
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Chile's environmental regulator blocked Barrick Gold Corp.'s US$8.5-billion Pascua-Lama project on Friday and imposed its maximum fine on the world's largest gold miner, citing "very serious" violations of its environmental permit as well as a failure by the company to accurately describe what it had done wrong.

After a four-month investigation, the environmental superintendent said all other construction work on Pascua-Lama must stop until Barrick builds the systems it promised to put in place beforehand for containing contaminated water.

The fines add up to 8 billion pesos -- about $16 million -- the highest possible under Chilean law.
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The sanctions don't mean the end of Pascua-Lama -- far from it.

Barrick has committed to $30 million in remedial work, and the agency urged the company to do this quickly, starting with temporary measures to contain any runoff while it builds more permanent structures.
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The sanctions also were praised by independent mining experts, who noted that the containment structures Barrick failed to build -- including a canal to divert rainwater from huge piles of cast-off rock, and thus to minimize the acid runoff that broken rock releases into the groundwater -- were a fundamental part of the environmental permit Barrick obtained.
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swissaustrian said:

ABX ousted it's CEO today because of weak stock performance. :flail:
He is going to be replaced by the CFO.
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African Barrick Gold (ABG), which has seldom seemed able to meet its operating objectives since its spin-off from parent Barrick Gold and listing on the London Stock Exchange three years ago, has announced the resignation of its Chief Executive Officer, Greg Hawkins ‘to pursue other opportunities’, and his replacement by Australian Bradley Gordon who takes over with immediate effect. Gordon resigned from his previous position as CEO of Intrepid Mines last month – presumably with the ABG appointment already settled.
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Barrick Gold Corporation (ABX) has inked a mutual investment agreement with Shandong Gold Group Co., Ltd. The move strengthens the company's partnership with one of the leading mining companies in China.

Per the deal, Shandong Gold will acquire up to $300 million of Barrick's shares. Barrick will invest an equivalent amount in shares of Shandong Gold Mining Co., Ltd., which is controlled by Shandong Gold. The shares will be purchased in the open market. The companies, through the partnership, expect to leverage collective strengths to unlock long-term value for respective shareholders.

In July 2018, Barrick and Shandong Gold entered into an enhanced strategic cooperation agreement. The latest cross shareholding deal builds on this agreement.
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Canada's Barrick Gold (ABX) is buying rival Randgold (GOLD) to create the world's biggest gold miner, the two companies announced Monday.
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The new company will control five of the world's top ten gold mines and have "the largest gold ‎reserves amongst senior gold peers," Barrick and Randgold said Monday.
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Barrick Gold Corp will seek Chinese investments in some of its African mines to offset higher risk stemming from its planned $6.5 billion all-stock acquisition of Africa-focused miner Randgold Resources, people familiar with Barrick’s thinking said.
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Barrick’s African expansion is a departure from its recent strategy of focusing on relatively safe regions like the United States. Africa will represent about 30 percent of Barrick’s net asset value after the deal closes, up from some 15 percent, Desjardins Securities estimates.

Chinese involvement in Africa will likely include minority stakes or joint ventures in mines, the people familiar with Barrick’s thinking told Reuters.

China’s Zijin Mining Group and Shandong Gold said this week the deal provides additional opportunities to expand their partnerships with Barrick in Africa.

“The question for Barrick is, how do you balance the risk profile with the growth profile?” said David Neuhauser, managing director of U.S. hedge fund Livermore Partners and a Barrick shareholder, who supports the deal but recognizes the risks associated with Africa.

“Barrick’s potential partnerships with the Chinese could de-risk its African exposure,” he added.
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Barrick Gold expects a 8.5% drop in first-quarter gold production, it said on Thursday, as the COVID-19 pandemic forced miners to scale back operations and shutdown mines.
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Barrick said it expects gold output of 1.25 million ounces

for the first quarter, compared with 1.37 million ounces a year earlier.
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Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway holding company took a stake in Barrick Gold Corp., while exiting or reducing holdings in shares of financial companies in the quarter ended July 1, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission Friday.

The filing showed Berkshire had acquired 16,073,701 shares of Barrick during the period. Shares rose $1.94, or 7.2%, to $28.93 in after-hours trading Friday.

Berkshire dumped its holdings in Goldman Sachs, and reduced its holdings in JPMorgan Chase by 60% and in Wells Fargo by 26%, according to the filing.
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In its earnings report published Wednesday before the North America Open, Barrick Gold said it is looking to repurchase up to $1 billion in its outstanding shares this year. This comes after the company repurchased $424 million shares last year.
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