Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan and Barrick Gold
Corporation (NYSE:GOLD) (TSX:ABX) president and chief executive
Mark Bristow met today to review progress at Twiga Minerals
Corporation, the joint venture established in October 2019 to
manage the company’s gold mines in the country, and to discuss the
partnership’s future plans and prospects.
Since Barrick took over the management of the mines
in September 2019, the then moribund North Mara and Bulyanhulu have
been revived, returned to profitability and are now truly
world-class assets, with the potential to become Barrick’s seventh
Tier One1 gold complex. It has also made significant progress in
dealing with legacy social and environmental issues and is
returning substantial value to its Tanzanian stakeholders.
In 2020 the government received more than $370
million (TShs 856 billion) in cash inflows from the Twiga
partnership through taxes, dividends and the first $100 million
(TShs 231 billion) tranche of the settlement agreement.
Barrick has also invested $800 million (TShs 1,851
billion) in the country’s economy, spent $2 million (TShs 4.6
billion) on community development and recruited 600 new local
employees, with Tanzanian nationals now making up 96% of the mines’
workforce. Tanzanians appointed to key management and technical
positions include general manager Apolinary Lyambiko, country
manager Georgia Mutagahywa and country financial manager Melkiory
Ngido. Barrick is continuing to work closely with the Mining
Commission on its local content program, and local content spending
already accounts for 73% of the mines’ purchases.
Bristow said afterwards that the meeting had been a
highly constructive one in which both parties had agreed that the
success of the Twiga joint venture – a first for Africa – had
demonstrated the value that could be created by a genuine economic
benefit sharing partnership between a mining company and its host
country.
“I confirmed that Barrick was in Tanzania for the
long term and that we’ll be using our North Mara-Bulyanhulu complex
as the base for further investment in the country, which is highly
prospective but still largely unexplored. We see the potential for
more world-class gold discoveries here but in order to achieve
exploration success we need to keep turning over our licences and
assessing new ground. The process of acquiring new licences is
ongoing,” he said.
Enquiries
President and CEOMark Bristow+1 647 205 7694+44 788
071 1386
COO, Africa and Middle EastWillem Jacobs +44 779
557 5271
Investor and Media RelationsKathy du Plessis+44 20
7557 7738Email: barrick@dpapr.com
Endnote 1
A Tier One Gold Asset is an asset with a reserve
potential to deliver a minimum 10-year life, annual production of
at least 500,000 ounces of gold and total cash costs per ounce over
the mine life that are in the lower half of the industry cost
curve.
Cautionary Statement on Forward-Looking
Information
Certain information contained or incorporated by
reference in this press release, including any information as to
our strategy, projects, plans, or future financial or operating
performance, constitutes “forward-looking statements”. All
statements, other than statements of historical fact, are
forward-looking statements. The words “progress”, “future”,
“plans”, “prospects”, “potential”, “continuing”, “long term”,
“further”, “prospective”, “assessing”, “process” and “will” and
similar expressions identify forward-looking statements. In
particular, this press release contains forward-looking statements
including, without limitation, with respect to: the potential for
North Mara and Bulyanhulu to become a Tier One gold complex;
progress being made towards resolution of legacy social and
environmental issues; planned exploration activities and potential
discoveries; and contributions to the local economy, including
local content programs and spending.
Forward-looking statements are necessarily based
upon a number of estimates and assumptions including material
estimates and assumptions related to the factors set forth below
that, while considered reasonable by the Company as at the date of
this press release in light of management’s experience and
perception of current conditions and expected developments, are
inherently subject to significant business, economic, and
competitive uncertainties and contingencies. Known and unknown
factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those
projected in the forward-looking statements, and undue reliance
should not be placed on such statements and information. Such
factors include, but are not limited to: fluctuations in the spot
and forward price of gold, copper, or certain other commodities
(such as silver, diesel fuel, natural gas, and electricity); the
speculative nature of mineral exploration and development; changes
in mineral production performance, exploitation, and exploration
successes; risks associated with projects in the early stages of
evaluation, and for which additional engineering and other analysis
is required; failure to comply with environmental and health and
safety laws and regulations; timing of receipt of, or failure to
comply with, necessary permits and approvals; uncertainty whether
some or all of the targeted investments and projects will meet the
Company’s capital allocation objectives and internal hurdle rate;
changes in national and local government legislation, taxation,
controls or regulations and/ or changes in the administration of
laws, policies and practices, expropriation or nationalization of
property and political or economic developments in Tanzania and
other jurisdictions in which the Company or its affiliates do or
may carry on business in the future; damage to the Company’s
reputation due to the actual or perceived occurrence of any number
of events, including negative publicity with respect to the
Company’s handling of environmental matters or dealings with
community groups, whether true or not; risks associated with new
diseases, epidemics and pandemics, including the effects and
potential effects of the global Covid-19 pandemic; litigation and
legal and administrative proceedings; employee relations including
loss of key employees; increased costs and physical risks,
including extreme weather events and resource shortages, related to
climate change; and availability and increased costs associated
with mining inputs and labor. Barrick also cautions that its
guidance may be impacted by the unprecedented business and social
disruption caused by the spread of Covid-19. In addition, there are
risks and hazards associated with the business of mineral
exploration, development and mining, including environmental
hazards, industrial accidents, unusual or unexpected formations,
pressures, cave-ins, flooding and gold bullion, copper cathode or
gold or copper concentrate losses (and the risk of inadequate
insurance, or inability to obtain insurance, to cover these
risks).
Many of these uncertainties and contingencies can
affect our actual results and could cause actual results to differ
materially from those expressed or implied in any forward-looking
statements made by, or on behalf of, us. Readers are cautioned that
forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future
performance. All of the forward-looking statements made in this
press release are qualified by these cautionary statements.
Specific reference is made to the most recent Form 40-F/Annual
Information Form on file with the SEC and Canadian provincial
securities regulatory authorities for a more detailed discussion of
some of the factors underlying forward-looking statements and the
risks that may affect Barrick’s ability to achieve the expectations
set forth in the forward-looking statements contained in this press
release.
Barrick disclaims any intention or obligation to
update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result
of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required
by applicable law.
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