NGM will be high-quality operation for decades, Barrick report says – Elko Daily Free Press
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Barrick Gold Corp.’s 2021 annual report published March 18 highlights investments in its future at sites around the world, including in Nevada, where Barrick is the 61.5% owner and operator of Nevada Gold Mines. Newmont is the 38.5% owner.
“The world’s largest gold mining complex, Nevada Gold Mines, stands out from the rest of the industry not only because of its size but because its wealth and prospects secure its future as a high-quality, long-life operation for decades to come,” the report says.
“Nevada Gold Mines landholdings encompass more than two million acres across some of the best endowed gold trends in North America.”
The report says NGM “is anchored by three Tier One mines – Carlin, Cortez and Turquoise Ridge – with Goldrush and Fourmile heading up a long pipeline of quality projects.”
Barrick’s 2021 annual report was published on March 18.
Barrick has a total of six Tier One mines worldwide. The others are Pueblo Viejo in the Dominican Republic, the Loulo-Gounkoto complex in Mali, and Kibali in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
A graph in the annual report on Barrick’s North American 5-year gold outlook shows Barrick’s attributable gold production from NGM – the company’s 61.5% share of the total production – going up from about 2 million ounces in 2021 to about 2.2 million ounces in 2026, due to anticipated increased production at Cortez and Turquoise Ridge.
This graph in Barrick’s 2021 annual report shows that Barrick’s attributable gold production from Nevada Gold Mines is expected to increase in the years ahead, due to anticipated increased production at Cortez and Turquoise Ridge.
“Rapid progress in improving orebody knowledge has opened up resource growth and exploration opportunities, notably at North Leeville, Ren, Robertson, Turquoise Ridge and Carlin,” the annual report says.
“At the same time, NGM has been reinforcing its social license to operate by building strong relationships with its local communities, the counties, the state and the federal agencies. To ensure that community needs are being met, advisory groups consisting of local stakeholders have been formed to nominate development projects for investment. Some of these initiatives include the Elko broadband project, bringing high-speed internet services to the area; the i-80 Fund, which has been repurposed from a Covid-19 relief program to a rural development initiative; and the employee-driven NGM Heritage Fund.
“NGM has a strong track record in environmental remediation and reclamation, and is a committed custodian of Nevada’s unique lands, waters, flora and fauna.”
“In Nevada, the updated Goldrush feasibility study delivered a robust project that meets our investment criteria and the immediate geological prospectivity has the potential to enhance it with further evaluation,” said Barrick President and CEO Mark Bristow in his message in the annual report. “The commissioning of Turquoise Ridge’s third shaft and continued geological and mine improvements will secure that mine’s future as a Tier One asset.
“The state is one of the world’s most prolific gold districts and last year alone brownfields exploration added 9.4 million ounces of reserves. Mineral resources, inclusive of reserves, also demonstrated good growth with 7.4 million ounces of measured and indicated resources and a further 5.2 million ounces of inferred resources to Nevada Gold Mines’ inventory, before depletion. There is also a real potential for the discovery of new world-class deposits.”
Barrick President and CEO Mark Bristow visits a mine site in this photo in Barrick’s 2021 annual report, which was published on March 18.
The report also highlights Barrick’s exploration projects around the world.
“A specialist Asia-Pacific team, set up to look at opportunities in that region, has acquired exploration permits in Japan and are hunting for additional opportunities in that region,” Bristow said. “We are also investigating projects across the Nubian and Arabian Shields in North Africa and the Middle East. We have put a particularly strong focus on exploration in Latin America, where our teams are testing a portfolio of targets on the El Indio belt along the border between Argentina and Chile. We have also added ground in Peru and started fieldwork on new projects in Guyana and Suriname.”
“We are working on a well-defined strategy to grow our business in Canada where I believe we are under-invested. A significant exploration portfolio has been secured in the country’s Uchi Belt and the team is also looking at other opportunities in the country.”
Bristow said Barrick has mapped out and is advancing on a clear road to achievable greenhouse gas emission reduction targets and its longstanding commitment to Environmental, Social and Governance principles informs all its business decisions.
“The Social component of ESG tends to be overshadowed by its Environmental counterpart, but for Barrick it is the socio-economic state of our less-developed host countries that is critically important, and much of our sustainability strategy is directed at ensuring that our host communities are not negatively impacted by the world’s transition to a green economy.”
“Our drive to employ the next generation of mining talent remained steady, with 56% of our workforce now under the age of 40 and 19% under 30. Throughout the period we also continued to increase our gender diversity, and last year 17% of new hires globally were women. Barrick believes in empowering our people to thrive in a decentralized structure with lean regional teams designed for agility and focused on creating value for all our stakeholders,” Bristow said.
This graph in Barrick’s 2021 annual report shows the effect rising gold and copper prices has on Barrick’s attributable free cash flow.
The gold market overview in the Barrick annual report says, “The average price of gold in 2021 was $1,799/oz., a 2% increase over the $1,770/oz. average in 2020. $1,799/oz. represented the highest annual average price on record, surpassing the previous high reached in 2020, and represented the sixth straight year of annual average price increases.”
The report says that for every $100 per ounce increase in the price of gold, the attributable free cash flow generated by Barrick’s operations increases by around $1.5 billion.
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This graph in Barrick’s 2021 annual report shows the effect rising gold and copper prices has on Barrick’s attributable free cash flow.
Barrick’s 2021 annual report was published on March 18.
This graph in Barrick’s 2021 annual report shows that Barrick’s attributable gold production from Nevada Gold Mines is expected to increase in the years ahead, due to anticipated increased production at Cortez and Turquoise Ridge.
Barrick President and CEO Mark Bristow visits a mine site in this photo in Barrick’s 2021 annual report, which was published on March 18.
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