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Barrick Gold is currently the largest gold mining company in the world. Through its many acquisitions over the past decade, including its $10 billion acquisition of Placer Dome in 2006, it now has a portfolio of 25 operating mines and a pipeline of projects located across five continents.
Production in 2009 totalled 7.42 million ounces of gold, and Barrick can easily sustain that level given it has the largest reserves of 139.8 million ounces. The company also has 6.1 billion pounds of copper reserves and 1.06 billion ounces of contained silver within gold reserves as at December 31, 2009.
Instead of talking about each mine that the company owns, I will instead highlight some of the mines from each area.
North America
North American assets make up 40% of Barrick's total production and reserves. Two mines, Goldstrike and Cortez, produce over 1 million oz of gold per year.
The Cortez property is made up of the Pipeline, South Pipeline, and the Cortez Hills deposit. The Pipeline and South Pipeline are open pit mines, they have been in operation since the late 1990′s. The Cortez Hills deposit was discovered in 2002 and in 2009 began operations. It is both an underground and open pit mine. Altogether, these mines will produce over 1.1 million oz of gold in 2010
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Round Mountain
Round Mountain is a joint venture operation in which Barrick holds a 50% interest with Kinross Gold Corporation, the operator owning the remainder of the interest.
Round Mountain is a conventional open-pit operation that uses multiple processing methods including crushed ore leaching (reusable pad), run-of-mine ore leaching (dedicated pad), milling of higher-grade ore, and the gravity concentration circuit.
In 2009, Barrick's share of production was 209,000 ounces of gold at average total cash costs of $547 per ounce.
Pueblo Viejo is located in the Dominican Republic, approximately 100 kilometres northwest of the capital city of Santo Domingo. Barrick holds a 60% interest and is the operator with Goldcorp owning the remaining 40% interest. The project is one of the largest gold assets in the world and is poised to become a worldclass operation with a projected mine life of more than 25 years.
The Pueblo Viejo project continues to advance in line with its $3.0 billion capital budget (100% basis), and initial production continues to be anticipated in the fourth quarter of 2011. At the end of the second quarter, overall construction was more than 25% complete, approximately 70% of the capital had been committed.
Barrick's 60% share of annual gold production in the first full five years of operation is expected to average 625,000-675,000 ounces at total cash costs of $250-$275 per ounce
Cerro Casale
Cerro Casale is one of the world's largest undeveloped gold-copper deposits, with gold reserves of 23.2 million ounces. Barrick owns 75% of the project with Kinross Gold owning the other 25%. The project is located 130 kilometers north of the Pascua–Lama project. Its proximity to Pascua–Lama is expected to provide opportunities for construction and operating synergies. Pre-production capital is expected to be about $4.2 billion (100% basis) with a construction period of approximately 3 years following the receipt of key permits.
Barrick's 75% share of average annual production is anticipated to be about 750,000-825,000 ounces of gold and 170-190 million pounds of copper in the first five full years of operation at total cash costs of about $240-$260 per ounce assuming a copper price of $2.50 per pound. A $0.25 per pound change in the copper price would result in an approximate $50 per ounce impact on the expected total cash cost per ounce over this period.
South American assets make up 30% of Barrick's total production and 35% of reserves. Two large scale projects, Pascua-Lama and Cerro Cesale are currently in development
Lagunas Norte
Lagunas Norte is located in Peru, and is an open-pit, crush, valley-fill heap leach operation. The mine is Barrick's lowest cost operation and in 2009 it produced 1.0 million ounces of gold at total cash costs of $138 per ounce.
African Barrick
African Barrick assets make up 8% of Barrick's total production and 12% of reserves..
Australia Pacific
Australia Pacific assets make up 25% of Barrick's total production and 13% of reserves.
Donlin Creek
The Donlin Creek project is a large, undeveloped, refractory gold deposit in Alaska. In December 2007, Barrick and NovaGold formed a limited liability company on a 50/50 basis to oversee the development of the project.
Based on the 2009 project feasibility study, Donlin Creek is expected to be one of just a handful of gold mines worldwide that produces more than one million ounces of gold annually. Based on the current 33.6 million ounce gold reserves, the anticipated mine life is approximately 25 years with a mill throughput of 53,500 tonnes per day. Capital costs to design and build Donlin Creek are $4.5 billion.
Further optimization studies are underway, primarily focused on the potential to utilize natural gas to reduce operating costs. Following completion of a scoping study for the natural gas option, in April 2010, the Board of Donlin Creek LLC approved a supplemental budget to proceed with revisions to the feasibility study to include the natural gas option. The feasibility study revisions are expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2011.
Pascua-Lama
Straddling the border of Argentina and Chile, Pascua-Lama is one of Barrick's largest projects in development. The project is on track to enter production in the first quarter of 2013 and remains in line with its pre-production capital budget of $2.8-$3.0 billion.
As at December 31, 2009, Pascua-Lama has proven and probable reserves of 17.8 million ounces of gold, with 671 million ounces of silver contained within the gold reserves. With an estimated mine life of more than 25 years, average annual production is expected to be 750,000-800,000 ounces of gold in the first full five years of operation at total cash costs of $20-$50 per ounce (assuming a silver price of $12 per ounce), making Pascua-Lama one of the lowest cost gold mines in the world. For every $1 per ounce increase in the silver price, total cash costs are expected to decrease by about $35 per ounce over this period.
Cortez
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