NEWMONT Mining CEO, Gary Goldberg, dismissed the prospect that the US firm would make its own bid for Barrick Gold, but he acknowledged there was opportunity to discuss the sharing of assets in Nevada, host to the Carlin Trend.
The future of Barrick is high on the list of talking points at the Denver Gold Forum, where Goldberg was commenting, following the unveiling of a merger between Barrick Gold and Randgold Resources on September 24. According to reports, the merger could trigger a fresh wave of consolidation in the under-performing gold sector, if only to purchase assets the combined Barrick Gold/Randgold merger might not want.
Goldberg told Bloomberg News that Newmont had an interest in buying Barrick’s half of their shared Kalgoorlie mine in Australia, which Newmont operates. The purchase would have to be at “fair value,” Goldberg said.
Mark Bristow, CEO of Randgold who has been proposed as the president and CEO of the new ‘Barrick Group’, said he would be interested in selling Barrick’s Australian assets, deemed non-core. However, it was the unification of assets in Nevada – highlighted by Barrick Gold executive chairman, John Thornton, as a long-term but so far frustrated strategic goal – that Goldberg said could be explored afresh.
“Everyone’s got a little bit different concept” of what those deals could be, Goldberg said when asked about the possible unification. “I think my view is we’re always welcome to sit down and talk about ideas,” he told Bloomberg News.
Bristow said that Barrick Group would be run on similar lines to Randgold Resources, only larger. “Its goal will be to deliver sector leading returns, and in order to achieve this, we will need to take a very critical view of our asset base and how we run our business, and be prepared to make tough decisions,” he said.
Detailing the principles of its business plan on September 24, the two companies said they would “grow and invest” in a portfolio of tier one gold assets and strategic assets, sell non-core assets, and invest in exploration across “extensive land positions in many of the world’s most prolific gold districts”. Randgold has an established base in Francophone Africa whilst Barrick owns mines in Latin America as well as North America.
