Barrick Gold Corporation (NYSE:GOLD) Q4 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

Barrick Gold Corporation (NYSE:GOLD) Q4 2024 Earnings Call Transcript February 12, 2025

Barrick Gold Corporation reports earnings inline with expectations. Reported EPS is $0.46 EPS, expectations were $0.46.

Operator: Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. This is the event operator. Welcome to Barrick Gold Corporation’s Results Presentation for the Fourth Quarter of 2024. Following today’s presentation, a question and answer session will be conducted. If you have a question and are joining the event by telephone, please press star then one on your telephone keypad. You will hear a tone acknowledging your request. We will also be taking questions from the room. As a reminder, this event is being recorded and a replay will be available on Barrick Gold Corporation’s website during December 2025. I would now like to turn you over to Mark Bristow, President and CEO of Barrick Gold Corporation. Please go ahead, sir.

Mark Bristow: Thank you very much, and very good morning and good afternoon to everyone here today. And for those that are on the call, thank you for joining us today. As you know, at Barrick Gold Corporation, we are focused on delivering sustainable long-term value by owning the best gold and copper assets managed by the best people. Every quarter, we are getting closer to achieving our goal. With gold becoming more important as a safe haven in a geopolitically uncertain world, and copper being as strategic as gold is precious. I plan to show you how we are adding value and building capacity in both metals without taking an excessive amount of debt on or issuing new shares. Needless to say, it’s an exciting time to be a gold and copper miner, with more upside in the commodity price, in my opinion anyway.

It’s been a transformative year for Barrick Gold Corporation. One where we have invested heavily in our people and our assets and we feel that we’ve reached a pivotal point that will add impetus to our strong growth trajectory. Above all, is our unwavering commitment to sustainability enabling our vision not only to be the best gold and copper producer in the world, but also one that people will want to own. This is our customary cautionary notice regarding forward-looking statements which you can read at your leisure on our website. So moving to our group highlights, it’s great to see all the arrows once again pointing in the right direction. We saw EBITDA increase 30% and EBITDA margins grow both quarter on quarter and for the year. Also, thanks to a strong performance in the last quarter, as we pointed out and discussed when we last met, we met our 2024 guidance.

Adjusted net earnings per share grew 50% year on year to $1.26. The quarterly dividend was maintained at $0.10 per share and we repurchased an additional $354 million of our own shares in quarter four, taking the total for the year to almost $500 million. We also continued our exceptional track record in reserve replacement for both gold and copper, adding substantial new reserves from La Moana and Riccardeck. That’s in addition to the replacement, 12.7 million ounces of gold, and 13 million tons of copper of reserves from those two projects, which is to put it in perspective, is on a gold equivalent basis, equal to 73 million ounces of gold. Quarter on quarter, gold production from our mines increased 15%, with a 3% reduction in cost of sales and a 5% decrease in total cash costs, driven by our focus on cost efficiencies.

Nevada played a key role in this performance with a significant throughput and production boost as it delivered on guidance. On the copper side, Lemona posted a quarterly production record and on a group attributable basis, we achieved production guidance for both copper and gold. Turning to the financial results, some of which I’ve already touched on, we achieved the highest net earnings in a decade. Operating cash flow for the quarter was up 18% to $1.4 billion, taking the total for the year to $4.5 billion, the highest we’ve achieved since 2020. This strong performance led to a 104% increase in full-year free cash flow to $1.3 billion for 2024. Strong cash flow supported $500 million of share buybacks on top of $700 million in dividends, which kept net debt in line at just over $650 million.

Safety and our journey to zero remained our top priority. Unfortunately, as we have already reported, we had three fatalities in 2024, which is unacceptable. We, however, ended the quarter with significant improvement on the lagging indicators when compared to the same period last year. What was particularly encouraging was the increase in critical control verifications conducted at the sites, as well as the number of actions closed out after high potential incidents, both of which represented our focus on leading indicators too. This improved performance meant that we achieved our improvement goals for the group. Additionally, there were no class one environmental incidents and we again achieved an industry-leading water use efficiency rate of 85%.

We continued to integrate our holistic mine closure strategy across the group and drive long-term value creation. Most notably, we exceeded our group concurrent rehabilitation target for the second consecutive year and put seven of our old tailings storage facilities into safe closure. And we are targeting a further five this year. As usual, we’ll start our operational review with North America, which to remind you, accounts for 47% of our total attributable gold production and is Barrick Gold Corporation’s value foundation. The new leadership team has settled in well, focusing on the key metrics we identified for improvement in Nevada, including efficiencies, agility, profitability, and growth. For this, we’ve identified several growth opportunities including both brownfields and the new Four Mile project, which we’ll discuss further later.

Moving to the summary of the results, the numbers speak for themselves. As we anticipated, we saw an improvement in production and costs driven by a strong quarter four performance across the complex, and particularly from our three tier-one assets. This along with the higher gold process supported a solid set of financial results for both the quarter and the year. And as mentioned, Four Mile is one of the most exciting new gold opportunities. The team has done excellent work to move that project to prefeasibility study. We are allocating $78 million for the 2025 year to begin the prefeasibility study work, which we expect will take about three years to complete. In terms of mineral resources, there’s been a significant improvement in the 2024 economic assessment, as we highlighted at our November Capital Markets Day.

This project is essentially an extension of Gold Rush, with much larger ore bodies nearly double the grade, making it a highly promising opportunity and we will continue to share updates on this project as we move forward with the prefeasibility study throughout the year.

Mark Bristow: In addition to Four Mile, we are continuing to expand our significant brownfields portfolio in Nevada. At Carlin, the greater legal area holds substantial potential for further discovery and depletion replacement. While at Cortez, we have the Hansen extension within the Cortez Hills underground mine, which remains open in all directions. We’re also advancing greenfields work with drilling at Swift, and in the basin near the gold quarry deposit, confirming large colon alteration systems undercover. And at Turquoise Ridge, we’re upgrading the model and have recently defined several new near mine targets to be tested in the coming months. Looking at North America as a whole, we’re continuing our work in Canada, focusing on southern superior with drilling progressing at both the Norris and Patrice projects.

We’re also expanding our footprint in priority belts across western United States for both gold and copper assets, which includes the ongoing consolidation of an exciting portfolio in Western Nevada. Moving now to Latin America and Asia Pacific region, which accounts for 17% of our gold production and 21% of our production, and boasts two key growth stories. The Pueblo Viejo expansion is making good progress, and the bankable feasibility study at Riccardic, which is now complete and received conditional approval from the board to proceed yesterday. It’s also worth highlighting the performance at Valadero, which delivered its best production results in the last five years. Gold production at Pueblo Viejo remained relatively stable with an improvement throughout the year in recovery rates reaching 80% by year-end as forecast.

Pablo Viejo is making good progress towards its goal of becoming a low-cost, long-life, plus 800,000-ounce gold producer. Ongoing work includes 35 days of planned downtime this quarter for throughput improvement projects, with additional shutdowns expected in quarter four to further improve recoveries. We’re also advancing the El Niro tailings storage facility, an important infrastructure project to support the mine’s life extension. Looking ahead, and as shown here, we are focusing a step-up improvement in throughput and recovery on the back of those plant improvements and upgrades, I referred to in the previous slide. We expect to be in the mid-600,000 ounces for this year with the target of exceeding 800,000 ounces next year. And on this slide, you can see some updates as we move forward with our ongoing resettlement of affected households for the development of the state tailing storage facility.

This resettlement, which aligns to the international best practices and standards, will ensure that those affected by the project have the same, if not better, living conditions. And we believe it will be better with clean running water and electricity supplied to each house at the host site. This will, along with the livelihood restoration plan, and access to education facilities, allow the families being resettled to build a better future together. The first families will be relocated in the next few weeks. On the exploration front, we’ve refocused our entire portfolio across LatAm and Asia Pacific targeting a series of new tier-one level opportunities in the region. The most advanced projects are in Peru. At, Leballela, where we are drilling multiple targets, in Koroporo, which is a poultry project that is currently progressing through permitting.

Additionally, we are actively evaluating our first set of early-stage properties in Ecuador.

Mark Bristow: Within Ecuador, with six prospects currently under review, all of which are promising. Rick O’Deck, I must say, just gets more exciting day by day with the feasibility study now completed our focus has shifted to the early works. Project start-up, and wrapping up the funding. The project is structured in two phases, with the total estimated budget for the phase one of approximately $5.6 to $6 billion as shown in the graph on the bottom right. This mine is to become one of the lowest-cost copper producers in the world sitting well below $1 per pound after gold credits. Free cash flow is estimated at around $74 billion over 36 years, excluding taxes payable to the governments of Pakistan and Balochistan. And further details are outlined in the table on the left of this slide and we expect to publish the full 43-101 Report next week, I think, Simon.

Our limited recourse project finance discussions with a potential lending group comprised of multilateral export and import finance agencies are well advanced and we are targeting to sign this early in the third quarter. Subject to the financing, again, yesterday, our board has conditionally approved to go ahead of the project, with first production targeted by the end of 2028. Just as a reminder, it’s worth pointing out that the bankable feasibility study focuses only on four Poffrey deposits, three of which are part of what we call the Western porphyries, along with the Tangil deposit, as shown on this slide. It’s important to note that the current bankable feasibility study is both solely on reserves associated with these four porphyries, but there’s significant potential beyond that.

In total, there are 14 identified paw free bodies within the mining and exploration license owned by Rickodeck Mining Company. Geologists, as we speak, are currently actively evaluating these other bodies, which will certainly influence future life of mine plans and reserve and resource estimates. There’s a substantial upside. And while the feasibility study assumes a 36-year mine life, based on reserves all indications suggest the mine could still be operating through the rest of the century. Moving to Africa and the Middle East, these regions contributed 38% of our attributable gold production and 79% of our copper in 2024. Like Riccardo Dick, the Super Pit expansion at LaManna is close to being fully permitted, and the feasibility study is now complete.

We’ve appointed our engineering partners and finalized the environmental and social impact studies for which we now have received the permit. We are also on track with early works design and long lead item fabrication. This highlights the big advantage of emerging markets, with large expansions and new projects can be completed much more quickly than in the developed world, but that’s exactly the same standard. In addition to the work at LaManna last week, we signed a memorandum of understanding with the Zambian government Zambian government’s industrial resources limited, forming a strategic partnership to drive mining and exploration in Zambia. This collaboration aligns with Zambia’s vision to increase annual copper production to 30 million tons in the coming decades.

Starting with Lulu Goncoto, in spite of the challenges we are currently experiencing in Mali, production increased by 80% in the fourth quarter by 8% in the fourth quarter, and exceeded guidance for the year. Gold sales were down significantly due to the restrictions placed on exports by the Malian government. As you know, in addition to export restrictions, we face the unjust incarceration of some of our team members, which is a difficult situation to navigate. We are actively engaged with the administration to secure their release and on a sustainable solution moving forward, so that we can restart Demand. This situation has led us to file for exit arbitration to assert our rights but at the same time, as usual, we remain engaged and are hoping to continue to make progress, albeit slowly.

Our goal remains to reach a lasting solution that brings benefits to Mali while ensuring fairness and supporting the long-term viability of this world-class operation. This being crucial, to the country’s economy as well as all its other stakeholders. I thought it would be worth putting a few points into perspective. As at times, there has been a lot of misinformation about the benefits that Mali has from the development of these assets. Since 2005, we have contributed more than $3.2 billion US dollars to the Malian Treasury in the form of dividends royalties, and taxes. More recently, in the past two years alone, we contributed $400 million in 2023 in cash to the Malian Treasury and $460 million in 2024, to that same treasury. Had the mind not been forced into temporary suspension, we were on track to contribute more than $550 million in 2025 at current gold process.

Beyond the financial contributions our focus has always been on long-term growth to sustain those benefits for Mali, and its people. Since 2005, we have produced nearly 10.5 million ounces of gold. And have added more than 15 million ounces to reserves. Extending the mine’s life to 2041. But more importantly, we have built and developed local talent. Today, Marlians are operating across our global business, including in Nevada, and their expertise is a key reason why these assets continue to succeed. The talent extends beyond our workforce. We have helped develop Malian businesses that have pioneered growth in the mining sector. Some of which have expanded beyond Mali as a country. From specialized mining contractors to fuel and consumable suppliers, the economic multiplier effect of mining is immense.

Creating opportunities to go far beyond the mine itself. Now crossing over to the DRC. Kabali, the biggest gold mine in Africa, and one of the most automated in the world, had a much improved quarter as we work to address some operational challenges, that plagued the mine for most of the 2024 calendar year. While it took longer than expected, those issues are now behind us. Kabali is a great mine. Low cost with a long life, and significant opportunities within its mining lease. Production increased quarter on quarter and sustaining costs were well controlled. We’re confident that Cavalli will show significant improvement across the board during 2025. The new solar plant and battery storage system are planned for commissioning at the end of quarter two of this year, and this will see an increase in the availability of renewable energy from 81% to 85%.

In six months of the year, we will generate electricity with zero carbon emissions. In Tanzania, North Mara was a standout performer. Across all metrics. Serving as a great example of what can be achieved when the right management team is in place and operating to our standards. Production was up 20% quarter on quarter. On the back of higher grades. And higher throughput. At Bully and Hulu, we’ve seen significant improvements as we continue to increase the scale of the operation. North Mara’s life of mine has been sustained beyond ten years. And bully in Hulu’s life is well over twenty years. We’ll dive into expiration details a little later. In Zapier, Al Amano Kapaman delivered a stellar performance. A record quarterly production, brought the mine back into guidance and delivered a significant improvement in costs, ensuring a successful end to 2024.

Many of the feasibility study assumptions for the super pit expansion have now been proven in the operation. The details of which are summarized on the next slide. The image on the left shows the super pit alongside a summary of the feasibility study results on the right. This is a standout project. And it is important to put it into perspective. Barrick Gold Corporation acquired the mine in 2011, it was unprofitable and resulted in a $5 billion write-down. In the past five years, a focus on cost discipline and exploration has added significantly to reserves. Extending the life of mine by more than twenty years. Today the mine is sustainably profitable and a pillar of our copper growth strategy. With the super pit expansion feasibility study completed, we are now moving forward with the project development.

Following approval, from the board, as I explained earlier. The feasibility study clearly supports the value of this investment. Importantly, we can fund the Super Pit expansion as well as our share of Rick a dicks development through our current and forecast cash flow facilities without needing to issue any new shares or take on additional debt. In fact, as I pointed out in the introduction, we are reducing outstanding share count by buying back our own shares. I’ve already touched on the expiration opportunities in North and South America, and we continue to make significant progress in our Africa and the Middle East regions as well. The region remains a consistent leader not only in meeting its guidance but also in replacing the reserves we mine both in gold and copper.

We are actively investing in our future. Focusing on material brownfields opportunities in the arc target area, just west of the KCD deposit in Kibali while also pursuing new tier-one assets. Greenfield footprints are expanding. Especially in Tanzania, Senegal, and New Frontiers in the Arabian and Nubian shield. The recently signed MOU with Zambia also underscores our focus on expanding in the Central African copper belt. As I’ve always said, what truly sets Barrick Gold Corporation apart from the rest of the industry is our ability to replace what we mine. Since 2019, we have replaced more than 180% of the company’s gold reserves depleted. Notably in 2024, we replaced the 4.6 million ounces of annual depletion at better grades. Before the addition of the Ricoh Dick reserve base.

This replacement was driven by the usual strong performance in Africa and Middle East, with additional significant growth in Pueblo Viejo as the result of pit pushbacks unlocked by the additional TSF capacity in the new Narano tailings facility. The conversion of copper gold resources in Rick O’DEX adds nearly 13 million ounces of gold reserves at 0.28 grams a ton, on a 50% attributable basis. Positioning Barrick Gold Corporation to capitalize on the copper fundamentals. We look to Riccardic feasibility study which added 7.3 million tons of copper at 0.48% to attributable copper reserves. The La Moana Super Pit Expansion feasibility study added 5.5 more million tons of copper reserves. Resulting in a total project copper reserve of 8.3 million tons at 0.52%.

This represents an addition of more than 20 million tons of copper reserves on a 100% basis since 2023. And these reserves were calculated at $3 a pound. These results from the respective feasibility pave the way to position Barrick Gold Corporation on the global stage of major copper producers alongside our existing world-class gold portfolio. Our consistent focus on asset quality which through our integrated mineral resource management and exploration strategy enables us to replace what we mine. Since the merger in 2019, we’ve added 111 million gold equivalent ounces to Barrick Gold Corporation’s reserve base. All at a cost of just $10 per equivalent ounce. Not only replacing what we have mined, but delivering substantial value. As highlighted in the slide, when you compare this to the cost of recent M&A transaction in the industry, the value we have created through doing this is abundantly clear.

And ladies and gentlemen, it’s on the back of this organic growth that we can forecast a plus 30% growth in gold equivalent ounces out to the end of the decade. As already highlighted, we are moving ahead with two key growth projects which will see capital increase over the next three years before coming back to more normal levels. And as production increases, so too we expect cost to reduce. As shown in this slide and as I shared with you last year at our investor day, in November, the value opportunity at Barrick Gold Corporation only continues to increase. The slide here shows consensus net asset values with market multiples applied. Including a modest one times multiplier for copper assets. You can see that the value for Nevada and the copper business together exceeds Barrick Gold Corporation’s market capitalization.

That means there’s an implied negative value for the rest of Barrick Gold Corporation’s tier-one, tier-two, and other strategic assets. I can also tell you that these consensus values are significantly lower than our own internal valuations. Something we expect to shift when we publish the technical studies, for Lemona and Rickardek, later this month. No matter how you analyze the portfolio, the current share price does not come close to reflecting the fair value of our asset base and our prospects. You’ll also see our view reflected in our bar back activity this quarter which you can expect to continue. So to recap, where Barrick Gold Corporation is headed today, I outlined earlier that we are targeting 30% growth on a gold equivalent ounce basis towards the end of the decade.

Bolt on our current reserves. As I’ve shown you today, we will continue to replace and add to those reserves and resources. For further supporting our growth. What’s more? We have the balance sheet strength to fund our growth and continue to invest in our own future without relying on the market. By any measure, Barrick Gold Corporation today presents a standout value opportunity. And with that, ladies and gentlemen, I thank you for listening. And we all be happy to take questions.

Anita Soni: Hi. Good morning, Mark. Uh-huh. Yeah. Straight out the block. Yeah. Right out of the block. First question, the reduction in CapEx. So you trimmed CapEx, I think, in November investor date was around $4 billion or $3.9 or so. And I believe it was about $1.5 in the copper side and $2.4 on the gold side. Now it’s $3.1 to $3.6. So some of that’s Lulu, I assume, because it’s not there’s no capital for Lulu. And what’s the other but where did the other trim come from?

Graham Shuttleworth: Anita. It’s Graham. The vast majority relates to Lula. Because, obviously, we’ve excluded the production from our guidance and we’ve excluded the capital as well. There were some other small changes in Nevada, but, really, it’s all about Luna. K. Secondly,

Anita Soni: what are the standby costs at Lulu, and where is that running through in the financials?

Mark Bristow: So right now, we’ve taken out all the gold in the circuit that we can. And so you know, we’re we’re in a very much a breakeven place today. We are engaged. We expected that we will continue to make progress on our conversations, and and I’ll just put this slide up. This is just an indication that if we start up you know, early in March, that’s the the the sort of hatch is the attributable portion of production. And so it’s at that point. And and as we’ve, disclosed in the MD and A, right now, we’re not guiding for Lulu. Let’s get it done and sorted. We have we have reallocated a lot of our experienced operators to other operations to ensure that they are active and and contributing to the to the company. And we’ve got quite a big staff on care and maintenance because there’s a temporary care and maintenance process.

It’s not a a full care and maintenance plan yet. And and we expect to be able to bring that mine up and and back into production very quickly. And and really, Anita, for us, that’s we know. You’ve seen me. I’ve been reluctant to get involved in a public negotiation with the Mali authorities. We are we prefer to keep that at at the level of, you know, invested to principal, and and we’ll keep you posted as we go.

Anita Soni: Okay. And then so that would mean that’s the the next question was the twenty the outlook twenty twenty seven to through to twenty twenty nine. Assumes that Lulu restarts. Right? That’s correct. Okay. And then my final I think just the point here is when you look at Barrick Gold Corporation, it’s I mean, it would not be a good thing to lose Lulu, not for anyone’s sake, and particularly not for Mali’s, but equally for us. We are long-standing partners in Mali. Every one of our operations are independently viable. And Barrick Gold Corporation’s balance sheet is very solid. And and so with or without Lulu, we’ll not change our long-term plan, our five-year plan. As you see here. And it’ll just be slightly smaller but fundamentally, we can easily support the the projects and the capital commitments during that period.

And I think that’s a very important point to to underscore. K. And my final question is with respect to the PV relocation efforts. There’s been a couple of press releases that you guys have put out in the last two months talking about issues with, I guess, a commission that is represent or claims to be representing families and is hampering the process. Could you tell me how many families are yet be relocated and what, the timeline for construction for that dam is again, and when do you need that capacity?

Mark Bristow: So it’s twenty twenty nine. I believe twenty twenty nine completion. The we are right in the middle of consulting and and so we finalized the reimbursements and there there’s a lot of negotiation around individual plants particularly, for those people who have, cocoa plants, etcetera. And those are the the the it’s quite important that. The commission we refer to really represents themselves. And they’re it’s a selfish group of people trying to hold the rest of the communities to ransom. And we are engaged with that we do, it’s just we follow the IFC relocation procedures almost identical to the World Bank procedures. And and we are working with them and the government and and the communities themselves. Happened is that the commission tried to motivate people to block our access to areas to that we need to do test work test drilling on on the foundation of the actual starter will wall.

And so we with the help of the government, mobilize the security forces to let us give us access. These are public road accesses that and and once we were through, I mean, we were really welcomed by the communities, and we were able to continue the test work. And we back and doing the test work because they have been for a couple of weeks now. So it is a process. I mean, these things are know, that you get people who will exploit the opportunity. There are people that want to get ahead and as you know, we’ve done a lot of this, and it’s and we’re very mindful as as families and their love styles and know, their owners ownerships and and and so and what we found is once we start moving the people, into the new homes that I showed you, then things get a momentum of their own.

But we’re still in that stage of what we call evaluation. So we sit at each household work through the house there, all the assets. We assess the the the value of that and then agree on on the not only the the the house itself, but we’ve got different size homes that we’ve already built and are continuing to build. But also the the other things that, like, plants and other infrastructure that are not necessarily duplicated in their new new homes. And that’s what we’re busy with at the moment. So I don’t I I don’t actually can’t tell you exactly the percentage yet. It’s still quite a way to go, but we’re in that process now.

Anita Soni: Thanks.

Brian MacArthur: Brian MacArthur, Raymond James, Mark I I just wanna go back to four mile. You’ve talked about, you know, better grade. Mining conditions, but there’s also discussion about the processing facilities. I’m kinda curious with your comment yet. It talks about flexibility going to the roasters or the autoclaves. How much you see potentially going each way at the moment. I I get it. There’s a lot more work to be done. Second question, I’m just kinda curious why there’s a three-year PFS that’s probably looks like a pretty detailed PFS, and it may have something to do with what we’re discussing in the first. And three, if you could just comment again about how the vend in with Newmont works. Thanks very much.

Mark Bristow: So the the joint venture, I think we’ve explained this quite a few times, it provides for us to be able to put the in fact, it it it doesn’t give us the opportunity yet gives us the obligation to put this project into the joint venture on a predetermined valuation, but a full evaluation. A market evaluation, not a bankable feasibility study evaluation. And and so, you know, that and on that basis, we are continuing towards that. So it’s a thorough evaluation. Last last year, we we did the preliminary evaluation, trying to get a feel of the size, and I’ve just stuck the slide up. What you can see is it’s the continuation of the system that defines Gold Rush. The difference is you’re moving towards that big pink intrusive, so the rock becomes more solidified, more brittle.

And so the mineralized fluids are breaking it. And and one, it’s much more competent. Geotechnically, and two, the ore bodies are bigger. So and they’re higher grade because most of them are Brett here style orebodies. And they’re the the so far, if you could just look at the different numbers, you know, six grams and nearly twelve grams. So so if you take and we shoot showed you this at the investor day. If you just take the gold rush valuation model and and use everything, including the cost of mining and and development and processing, and you just put the grade in, it’s an exceptional value. And, of course, the u the unit cost of mining will come down because these are much higher bigger stocks. So we understand the the potential value.

If you take Fourmile and you stick it into Nevada today, you change the full valuation of Nevada immediately. So, you know, there’s every bit of motivation for us to get this asset into the Nevada business model. At the same time, there’s there’s a requirement under the the joint venture to to complete a feasibility study. So the decision we’ve made is to continue the evaluation. So we the next step is prefeasibility study level. And with that will come the we’ve already done the preliminary work on JioTech to get access from Bullion Dollyon Hill, which then brings in a new access into not only four mile, but it’ll enhance the entire logistical cost of moving ore even in Goldrush. And and so that’s the next step. And then and then for me, it’s about how how do we deal with our partners and Nevada Gold Mines to ensure that we get this thing recognized as on its value and also start benefiting from it because I’ve got no doubt that certainly, the shareholders we talk to, our shareholders who who many of which are also Neumann shareholders, can see the the the opportunity here.

So you know, I think it’s beholden on us as as managers to find a solution that will unlock this value sooner rather than later for all our stakeholders. And that’s really where I’ll stop in that conversation.

Lawson Winder: Lawson Winder from Bank of America Securities. Mark, thanks for the presentation. Today. Nice to see you. I I’d like to come back to Molly, if you wouldn’t mind. And I mean, just note that in q four, you guys paid out over a hundred million dollars and then two hundred and forty-nine million dollars in twenty twenty-four, roughly. In order to continue to advance negotiations. So, conceptually, is that a payment that you would continue to have to make and then without revealing Barrick Gold Corporation’s position on this, I understand the sensitivity of negotiation. But can can you give us a a sense of what the Malian government is hoping to achieve?

Mark Bristow: So I’m not sure you got the numbers right. Just sent it again. It’s we paid out? Well, there was another ex expense number.

Lawson Winder: And it was so for the full year twenty twenty-four, it was two hundred and forty-nine million dollars. And the note in the MD and A said that that was largely can that largely consisted of payments to the Malian government to advance I don’t know what proportion of that was, but, I mean, more than fifty percent, I guess. Right. Yeah. So the

Graham Shuttleworth: the payment that we made to the Marlin government, which was made in beginning of October, at the time that we were yeah, in a position where we thought we had agreed a a way forward was eighty-four million dollars. So that’s the amount that we paid. And that was really a one-off payment because as I point out, we were at a stage where we believed we had an agreement albeit that, subsequently, that didn’t transpire that way. So that’s the only payment we’ve made.

Lawson Winder: Okay.

Mark Bristow: Now so let me just try and frame it a little bit. So there are there are two of, ex-employees who are advising the government to in in our mind, have you know, have conflicts of interest in many different aspects. But they basically, the fundamentals are they claiming that the mining industry had Yeah. Not fulfill its obligations and and that had taken out more than what Molly had had taken out. And as I pointed out earlier, we have we have not done that. And so our approach to this is we’re gonna find a solution and there are accusations, we accept that. Let’s get around the table because we can deal with that. And, and we as you know, we are very open and very transparent about what we pay and what we share and what we take out.

And the reason that the the the weighting is towards the Mali government and has been for a while is because we as as investors, we are constantly investing in the extending the life of mine, but ultimately, it evens out over time. And so if you change the rules midway through the game, you really compromise you know, lots of things in in in not only returns for us and our investors who have risked that investment, it also for Mali, because you shorten the life very quickly because you know, adding a whole lot of royalties jack up the cost. And it’s on that basis that we’ve continued to engage with the Marlians and said, and and and we strongly recommend and have recommended to them that we sit around with experts they don’t have to be even Barrick Gold Corporation experts, we can get external third-party experts to review the facts and then on that basis, we can find a way forward.

And and it’s worth sharing with you that, you know, when I took over the leadership in Barrick Gold Corporation, Tanzania was closed. People were in jail. You know, there were lots of accusations and all sorts of fines. Not dissimilar. Same with Pakistan. And and and soon after that, Papua New Guinea. And today, we have you know, we are the I mean, Tanzania’s go-to place and and it’s a great example of real partnerships and we, the biggest contributor to the treasury, by a country mile in that country. So and and Pakistan, we’ve just talked about the partnership that we’ve now announced and we’re moving towards development and again, the the benefits to us as investors and the provincial government and people of is as well as the federal government are enormous.

So there’s a way to find it because if you get down to the numbers, that’s what business is all about. And so that’s our focus because otherwise, what happens is if you just load up the costs in a in a and you know this better than anyone, you shorten the life and and then then the optimization of that ore body, you leave a lot of grade in the ground that’s never gonna go back. No one’s gonna go back in mine. And ultimately, it’s the people of Mali that that that loose. You know, the the investors will move on to another country, another project, another opportunity. So so we and we, as you know, have a long history in Mali. And whichever way you cut it, the the the gross the the net benefits to Mali have been in excess of the benefits that we’ve taken out of that country because we’ve continued to reinvest.

And it’s on that basis that we’re engaged and we are absolutely clear that if we get down to have an honest, open conversation, with people that are giving sound advice and are not conflicted or motivated by the things than just getting what’s good for Molly, we’ll find a solution. And and and that engagement is ongoing.

Lawson Winder: Okay. Thank you very much for that color. And then if I could, there was news reported of a potential sale of your fifty percent interest in Zolivar. I would assume that’s not not one of your strategic assets. When you look across the portfolio, are there other assets that you would suggest may not be strategic at this point today?

Mark Bristow: So the Zaldivar is very a huge focus of ours at the moment because it’s about getting the permitting in place and making sure that that mine can continue to operate. And so we haven’t made any decision or engaged in anything as far as getting rid of that asset, at the same time, to your point, it is not a core asset because we don’t operate it, and that’s one of our key focuses is that we’re not passive investors. But our big focus at the moment and our work with Antivagasta is to get there. And I’ve myself been spent a lot of time in Chile dealing with all the legacy issues of which most of them are now behind us. And and this extension of the mining license is important for us at. And they will you know, at at a at a point in time I mean, it’s a valuable asset, so it’s not an asset that would would be difficult to bring to account.

It’s also an asset that sort of shares a common sidewalk with a Escondido. So you know, that’s and and so there’s lots of options once we get there to consider it. Tongline, as you know, we are is in a process. And we have been working with the government of Cordova and and and progressing that that sale. There, you know, there might there are other non-core assets within our portfolio that will continue to get our focus because and particularly as we ramp up these two big projects. Because it really does if if you you know, the one thing you you’ll see when you look at the forty-three one zero one and and even when you do the math on the numbers we’ve shared with you, the cash flows out of these big copper mines, particularly with the gold credits, are enormous.

You know, they they become our our biggest generator of cash. And so it reminds me of that absolute clarity of we stick to tier-one assets. Some of the the assets that we have in our portfolio, might have a strategic nature, be it Hemlo in Canada, and, you know, we’ve been working really hard to to to build a a real tier-one opportunity or tier-two opportunity in Canada. We continue to do that every day. Your Valadero, we added an extra three years life. And, again, that’s been a very well run up operation through a very dynamic peso crisis in Argentina over the last six years. And, you know, it had a very good year last year. The team has managed that exceptionally well. And and, you know, it’s it’s delivered enormous returns to its two shareholders.

It also is integrated into the llama and pasquab properties across the national border. So that’s again, a strategic challenge of how do you manage that if you wanted to really look at it differently or bring it to account in another way. At the same time, we have a strong partnership with the Chinese, and and and, you know, I think it would be good if there’s a way of sharing more of that going forward. So you we haven’t got to a point where we’re clear about how we would manage that within our portfolio, but we’re certainly thinking about it. Same goes with pay P and G. You know, there’s a bit more work to do to be able to be able to get P and G properly packaged. It’s also it’s at that point now if we can continue to deliver on the progress that has been made, since we ramped it up.

It’s a very big cash generator relative to the equity portion that we own. Because we sweep everything until we get a closure of money back and all that sort of stuff. And so we’ve recut the profile of Papua New Guinea focused in on making sure that we you know, we we look at getting back some of our investments in in a in as a priority. Without damaging the long-term viability of the the asset. And I and I one thing I can assure you is that the Papua New Guinean government is aligned with us. On that strategy because they also could do with a bit of return from that mind. And again, that, in the fullness of time, you know, is it a place we want us continue to be as we grow our other sort of world-class businesses and places where we on we know we can get the money out.

We don’t have to deal with some of the social issues that you have to deal with in Papua New Guinea. So those that’s where we are, and we’re definitely thinking about it. We haven’t made clear decisions on anything, but Hongwan is definitely one that we’re we’re doing at this stage. And I and I just reinforce, you know, the one thing when when we started out in twenty nineteen, I mean, the the Barrick Gold Corporation as it was then was a was a challenging business to run. Had many many many scorpions every time you picked up a turn of a rock, there was a scorpion. Today, all our assets are extremely viable. And and and and have positive cash flows. And so and this is the time, you know, a good strategy we’ve we we said we would deliver these two big projects.

We’ve done it. PV is a big big value creator in in in Barrick Gold Corporation. And and and, again, you’ve seen me I don’t hesitate to clean up the portfolio at appropriate time, and the best time is when you have higher commodity prices. So certainly, you know, we’ll continue to keep ourselves very focused and and and and stick to our strategy of having tier-one assets. We exhausted here in the room. Thank you. Martin Priy from Veritas.

Martin Pradier: My question is, are you still paying salaries in in Lulu? To to the employees. So how is that working? Yes. We are.

Graham Shuttleworth: K.

Martin Pradier: And the the the what is the cost for for the company of you know, you’re paying salaries and you have no production, basically.

Mark Bristow: So as I said, at the moment, we haven’t really distilled that because it’s a temporary closure. And what we have done is taken out the gold out of the circuit, so we have produced gold, we’ve gotta be able to fill that circuit when we re restart again. And we’ve put everything on on a sort of running maintenance. So proper temporary care and maintenance. And, there’s no big net cost at this stage. If it was all to to restart and get going. We can’t continue with this you know, you know, for for long, but certainly, we can go for a couple of weeks or a month and a bit. While we try and get closure with the Malian government. At that point, we’d have to make a different decision. And we haven’t made that yet. Graham, do you wanna add to that?

Graham Shuttleworth: No. I mean, the only thing I would say is, you know, if you Yeah. If you look at, as a proxy, if you know, if if we do go to a current maintenance environment, sort of historical run rate there was about ten million dollars a month in holding costs. So, you know, that’s a that’s a reference point if you’re looking for something.

Martin Pradier: Perfect. And one other question. The cost of Puerto Rico was fourteen percent higher. Despite production the following only five percent. Everything compared to the previous you’re talking about all in sustaining cost? I think it was a the cost. The reported cost, I think. And I wonder why. So

Mark Bristow: what what we had the the big driver in the cost in PV in quarter four was that we as per the mine plan, we had lower grade. And so that impacts the unit costs. And and we our focus was to get we were focused on throughput and recovery. During that period. We gotta go down now to to to fix the thickened eye and we’ll upgrade a a number of de slamming facilities, sickness, and and we need that to to now lift again the throughput rate and to be able to deal with the recovery improved recovery. And we and we’ve showed in the slide the the schedule. There it is. Of how we plan to move and so we will, as I said, we targeting middle six hundreds this year, and then next year, we’ll go above eight hundred. And we should stay there.

And and and even after that, there’s still ultimately, we get to just our ninety percent recoveries. It’s over a couple of years. As we settled in our plan anyway. But the big big big, the the big sort of fixes are in this quarter we’re down for thirty-five days, and then we’re down again in quarter four. And and after that, we pretty much addressed the big equipment shutdowns to to fix and tie in some additional equipment.

Graham Shuttleworth: Yeah. The I mean, the key thing there is that the grades were significantly lower. Quarter on quarter, and that was really the big driver.

Mark Bristow: So we move to the virtual platform.

Q&A Session

Operator: Thank you. Phone, please pick up your handset before pressing any keys. Our first question is from Josh Wolfson with RBC Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

Josh Wolfson: Yeah. Thanks for taking my questions. We’re looking at the production guidance for both twenty twenty-five and also over the five-year outlook, the numbers have changed versus what was issued in November even if we adjust for the impact of of Molly in there. I’m wondering, you know, is there is there any sort of fundamental changes in how the assets are being evaluated or is this maybe reflecting some conservatism versus what the prior November budget was.

Graham Shuttleworth: Thanks. Hey, Josh. It’s Graham. Yeah. So I think it’s important to recognize that, you know, when we shared with you the the graphs in November, you know, we gave you you know, these are graphs. They’re a very a very small scale. So they’re not really meant to be precise informations. They’re there give you sort of directional information in terms of where the production is going. And the overall impact to that production on costs capital, etcetera. So yeah, we do revise these from time to time and and you know, when you look at this one, there are some small changes. That reflect some of the changes that’s that have taken place in the business from from November to now, some of the impacts of you know, for example, the the the slowdown in Lulu and some of the changes that we’ve seen across the rest of the portfolio. So you know, I don’t think you should get too too focused on the the granularity of the graph. It’s really about the direction.

Mark Bristow: Josh, why don’t you tell us that we’ve gotta meet our guard and so then you try to nitpick about the exact number, sir. I think we’ve we’ve looked at our our guidance very carefully, and and made sure that we’re, you know, we’re focused on a range that we can deliver on and and we’ll work from there going forward. But I think to Graham’s point, the direction of travel and and the fact that we’re saying, you know, the the growth out to twenty twenty-nine is a minimum of thirty percent. Is the the the takeaway here. And when you look at the cash flow impacts of that, if you model them, you’ll see what it means. And and so as you know, we’ve had this conversation for most of your career. You and I. And that is you know, growing cash flow is is a key part of what I’ve always been able to do.

And production is important, but it’s ultimately the value you get from those growth opportunities. And and we’re, you know, very motivated with this I think that the other thing I would add is when you look at the quality of our people, you know, we took our board over a period of two days through these feasibility studies with two separate teams. That have been working on these studies for a number of years now and, you know, we’ve got a quality group of people quite capable of building out these big expansion projects and and, ultimately, that’s the new generation of leadership in Barrick Gold Corporation as that will come out of that along with our our corporate team of subject matter experts. So it’s an exciting time, and definitely everyone feels that you know, we we have the ability and the financial capacity to deliver on these expansions.

Josh Wolfson: Right. Thanks. One more question, if I can add. Just on Recodeq. You know, similar, there’s been a number of articles that have continued in the press about possible buyers for a portion of the assets. It sounds like that deal has progressed a bit lower than maybe what we thought year ago. I’m wondering, you know, is there any kind of status updates that that that Barrick Gold Corporation at least can issue? And then then from the other perspective, if there isn’t a deal, let’s announce for your partners in country, you know, what what is sort of the outlook for Pakistan to fund their portion of CapEx?

Mark Bristow: So with the current funding lending group progress. There’s no no absolutely no way that Pakistan would not be able to fund its its share, and it has been up until now, funding is share as well. And and this and we don’t have any this you know, we don’t underwrite any part of the Pakistan investments. And so, absolutely, there’s no risk of that in my mind and and and the lenders’ minds as well because that’s been one of the focuses that they had on, the ability for the Pakistan side of the equity to be able to fund their share. I think the the the the Dave the significance of an investment from Saudi Arabia is not lost on us and not lost on anyone. And, and, again, as you know, we are very strong partners in Saudi with the Saudis and equally strong partners with the Pakistanis in Pakistan.

And so we we were always there to help and facilitate but we’re mindful that this is a ongoing discussion between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia now absolutely sure that they will come to some sort of arrangements sometime.

Operator: Thank you. The next question is from Tanya Chikuskanek with Scotiabank. Please go ahead. Great. Good afternoon, everybody. Thank you so much for taking my questions. I have four in total. Two for Graham and technical remark. Gonna start with the financial ones, Graham. Just wanted to ask you about taking the write down on Lulu of Makoto I thought it I I I was a bit surprised with it, to be honest, because given given historically, poor girl was able to operate on care maintenance operate was on care maintenance for a while before your auditors looked at the carrying value of that asset. So my question is, number one, has was there a change? I understand it’s goodwill. And does that mean every quarter if the asset isn’t up and running that we are gonna be reviewing the carrying value?

Graham Shuttleworth: Thanks, Tanya. No, it doesn’t mean we’ll be reviewing it every quarter. You know, we we are under the accounting rules, we are required to look for for signs of impairment and obviously the engagement that we’ve had ongoing in Mali was a was a trigger for that. And on the back of that, we we looked at our holding value and and the the, you know, the potential outcomes in the future, which, of course, are are multiple. And, you know, we had to make some assessments around that, and based on that, we we we considered that the the goodwill that we had previously written up against this asset when Barrick Gold Corporation acquired it, and the Wrangler transaction was no longer appropriate. And so it was on that basis that we’ve we’ve written it down.

But you know, we don’t expect to have to do that on an ongoing basis. If there was a material change in the circumstances, which then had an impact on future the potential future cash flows, well, then we would assess it at that point. But that’s not what we expect going forward. With reference to your comment about Porga, it’s it’s really a it’s all about what the holding cost was. So in the case of Porghra, the holding costs in our books were extremely low. And therefore, even though we you know, had situations with which might have caused us to look at whether there was an impairment, because the whole the the the cost of notebook was very low. It it never got to that point.

Tanya Chikuskanek: Okay. Alright. Thanks. My second financial the follow-up on Anita’s Hi. Know I appreciate that, you know, these charts that you provide to us are directional. And I am coming back to the capital because directionally, the chart that was provided in the investor day did show twenty twenty-six peaking at that four point two ish range on capital and then starting to decline in twenty twenty-seven twenty-eight, and twenty-nine. Is a bit different than the sort of capital outlay of flattish for twenty-six twenty-seven. So they have been movement of capital it has to be more than just Lulu, Bonkoto, because that one’s about three hundred million. So just trying to understand what has been moved around, and it’s making it fine.

Graham Shuttleworth: So Tanya, just just to be clear, when I answered Anita’s question, it was really in the context of our specific guidance for twenty twenty-five. With reference to your your question, which is really about the longer-term outlook, yes, there have been changes in the sequencing of the timing of capital at those feasibility studies as we’ve got more details on you know, the exact timing of the spend. So, yes, there’s some shifting between twenty-six, twenty-seven, and twenty-eight. But as you will have seen in terms of the gross numbers, that we previously gave guidance on for both Lemoana project and the RecordDict project. Those total numbers haven’t changed. So it’s really just the timing of the spend as we incurred over the over the period of the projects.

Tanya Chikuskanek: Yeah. No. Thank you. And the twenty but you majority of it was, low low, low, low, low, low, low, low, low, low, low, low, low, low. I thought we were running about three hundred million, but we could take it offline. My two other technical questions, if I could ask Mark, I wanted to come back to just Pueblo Viejo and the relocation program. I just remember from the MIND tour, that the tailings and the conveyor area, I think the relocation was about fifteen hundred people or thereabouts that had to be done over a period. Can you just, you know, confirm that that’s still the case? And that we need all of this to be done I just don’t remember when we have to have this I have the date availability.

Mark Bristow: So there’s a we’ve Tonya, we’ve spent a lot of time building in flexibility and the focus is the starter wall and the starter dam. And so that’s that so we can manage that. And also, we’ve looked at different accesses into the area, both into the be able to start the construction of the starter wall and then looking at the bigger project. So again, we are managing this is a social program. As you know, we’ve done many of these before. And you you need to and and so we’ve built in some flexibility by just the approach that we’ve taken on on the phases that we will enter. The key for us however, is to get the geotechnical drilling done so that we can build the starter dam and the foundations for the main walls because this is remember, this is a highly seismic area.

So the construction of this dam is a is a highly engineered construction and and to be able to do it and ensure that it’s it meets all the criteria for that setting. We need to do the a lot more geo technical work than one would do for an standard tailings dam.

Tanya Chikuskanek: That’s Mark on the critical path. What is the on the critical cap that you have to have the relocation of of this feature. When when Yeah. We’ve got we’ve got

Mark Bristow: We’ve got out until twenty twenty-nine. To to be able to have the starter dam functioning. Yeah. Our our original plan was to be quite well advanced with the main dam. You wanna add to that, Seven.

Simon Jimenez: No. It’s just so we’ve got till the end of twenty twenty-nine, and then there’s still additional work ongoing, which has got some flexibility going into twenty thirty. But obviously, our priority is to get the the damn geotechnical work done as you pointed out.

Mark Bristow: Okay. And then and then just for that, Tanya, we have extended the, Lagal Lagal Dam which is the current dam. So with another lift. So have built some flexibility into that.

Tanya Chikuskanek: We’re okay then for tailings until probably about twenty, thirty ish with be fair?

Mark Bristow: That’s that’s pretty fair, but this you know, this is this is so so the I mean, I would just point out we gotta build this dam because otherwise, why we do all this work? So

Tanya Chikuskanek: Okay. And and just on that is there any changes because of this additional starter dam and other

Mark Bristow: Right now, the estimated capital is that what you’re asking. You’re breaking up. But, I mean, we’re very comfortable with the current outlook on on our estimates for the completion of this whole expansion.

Tanya Chikuskanek: Okay. And then my final question, I just wanted to go good. I just wanted to ask about, Mark, you mentioned that you have the you have the obligation in the joint venture to move four miles into the joint venture once you have that feasibility study. Is that a you know, you know, if Newmont decides they do not wanna participate in four miles for some reason, is that a unilateral right that you have to be able to displace material from the joint venture? And and put in four

Mark Bristow: Sorry? I muted that. So they have the obligation to take it into. It’s a put in call. It’s an automatic one. So if it meets the criteria as laid out in the in the joint venture agreement, have the right to put it in or obligation, and they have the obligation to accept it and and settle the payment in cash.

Tanya Chikuskanek: Or dilute. That’s the option. So it’s very clear of course, there’s always opportunities for us to jointly agree on a different way of you know, bringing it into the the joint venture. But without a doubt, formal as real value in to all our shareholders in Nevada Gold Mines.

Tanya Chikuskanek: Mhmm. Okay. Great. Thank you for that.

Operator: The next question is from Daniel Major with UBS. Please go ahead.

Daniel Major: Hi, Mark Graham. Can you hear me okay?

Mark Bristow: Hello, Daniel. I can hear you. Perfect. Thanks.

Daniel Major: Great. Thanks for question. So just a couple. The first one on the buyback mark, you noted you intend to continue buying back stock. You bought back quite a lot in the fourth quarter. Can you give us any steer on, you know, how we should expect that the kind of run rate? Is there a target, or is it very much kind of share price dependent? How we should be thinking about the quantum of the buyback in subsequent quarters?

Mark Bristow: So, you know, we look at this in in last quarter. You know, we we are managing a big capital program cash flow. We’ve got higher commodity prices, stronger revenues. So and and very clearly, we have absolute no no hesitation to buy back our share. When when it’s at sort of these low share prices and and we’ll continue to do that. At the same time, as you know, both Graham and I have shepherded our businesses through many challenging times, and the one thing you don’t want to be is beholden to the market as you go into a big capital program, and we’re mindful of that. We are we have all the the facilities to build us ensure that we get to where we wanna get to. And we’ll make sure that we balance that carefully.

But as we’ve demonstrated, you know, the run rate, as you point out, Dan for for quarter four was well over a billion dollars a year. So yeah, we’re and and and and we will we we look at this every day. And we’ll make the decisions on a daily basis, and that’s what we do.

Daniel Major: Okay. Thanks. And next one, just on your CapEx guidance, looking at the one point seven to one point nine of project CapEx, can you give us a breakdown of how much of that is going to Lomaana and to Reykjodik? Approximately?

Mark Bristow: I’m sure Graham’s gonna answer that. Dan, you got another question while he gets his head around that concept.

Daniel Major: Yeah. I I could go for one more. So yeah, I appreciate that Mali situation you can’t, yeah, comment on too much of the specifics, but you made it very clear that the outcome wouldn’t impact the growth trajectory of the business. Can you just kind of clarify also whether it would have any impact on the project pipeline funding decisions around, you know, major projects if you don’t have that cash flow available to redistribute within the group. You know, for an extended period.

Mark Bristow: We’re we’re very comfortable with where we are. We’ll be able to manage it. And, Dan, every day, we have days like today with the gold price and copper price. We’re building a cushion in the the funding structure. So we’ve had a long time in that the last three three months.

Daniel Major: Ticket. Yeah. So, Dan wanna

Graham Shuttleworth: yeah, just to come back to your question then. As you’ll see from the MD and A, we’re guiding approximately a billion dollars of spending on record deck on a hundred percent basis. So our share of that would be half. And on Lemona regarding point six of a billion in capital spend for twenty twenty-five.

Mark Bristow: And I think I would add that particularly, oh, in in both cases, but in La Moana, because it’s got one circuit already running. Know? Any and and that is is is supports the the financing. And so higher copper prices really do bring down the the the exposure that Barrick Gold Corporation has to support that expansion. So you know, right now with the outlook on on copper and and our own internal revenue generation capacity. There’s these projects are becoming more affordable by the day as we collect. Yeah. Accumulate. And that’s why it’s important for us to manage that net debt position as we as we go as we go towards these bigger capital years.

Daniel Major: Thanks. Just for a brief follow-up on that, Graham or either Mark or Graham to be clear. You would expect to accrue the minority contributions to the Racketik. Capital. As you spend them. So it they’d show up in the p and l. That’s a cash flow statement.

Graham Shuttleworth: Yeah. So from an accounting point of view, we’re gonna be consolidating that asset. So, yes, you you will see it from that point of view. But from a from a cash point of view, you know, we’re only funding effectively fifty-five percent of the project because there’s a ten percent free carried interest. So our fifty over ninety is about fifty-five. So that’s what we fund from a cash point of view.

Daniel Major: Great. Thanks a lot. Good luck.

Mark Bristow: Thanks, Ted.

Operator: The next question is from John Tumazos with John Tumazos Very Independent Research. Please go ahead.

John Tumazos: Thank you for taking my question, Mark.

Mark Bristow: Pleasure job. I’m working.

John Tumazos: I’m working at ways to try to convince an Agnico or Alamo’s Gold shareholder to buy Barrick Gold Corporation instead. And it’s not necessary to tell the shareholders that you’re good managers because they know that. And they know that you built good minds. They’re politically risk-averse people. And I was thinking of three tactics or minor repairs in your strategy. My help someone to buy the Barrick Gold Corporation shares instead of the Agnico shares. And let me just see if any of these three minor changes appeal to you. One, would be if you asked your exploration department to acquire a couple sub one billion dollar exploration and development projects with large resources in shift a part of your resource base.

To Canada. And the premiums, of course, are smaller for these development companies. That need financing. A second tactic would be if you advanced Donlin Creek in Alaska, which is in the US. And it’s a slower return project in a safer place. A third tactic would be if you had a corporate policy of reinvesting every penny of North American cash flow in North America. Plus half of the cash flow from outside North America into North America to try to comfort the investors who are afraid of political risk in foreign countries. Do any of those things make sense to you, Mark?

Mark Bristow: I guess, John, thanks for that advice. It’s I think, partially, there’s a bit of common sense in anyone. I think the one point is that that the world’s changed. Maybe that was appropriate you know, a year ago, but you know, I think there’s a very uncertain environment that has developed around both Canada and the United States. And you know, again, we’re very invested in the United States, and we are heavily invested in exploration and pursuing new opportunities. Both in the United States and Canada just as we are in all the other highly prospective regions. And so, again, what I think what will eventually drive us drive those investors to invest in us is that you know, we’ve demonstrated that we are a safe pair of hands with our shareholders investments.

We haven’t asked them for anything for a very long time, and we’ve never diluted them. And today, if you look at where we are compared to where we were in twenty nineteen, we are a whole lot better off and a whole lot more valuable. And we have done nothing to destroy that value. So you know, as you know, John, go back to twenty eleven and Randgold. And all the the m and a activity and and the fact that we focused on just being a little bit more conservative and diligent in the way we invested our shareholders cash, we separated us from the investors and a lot of people migrated from those highly overvalued assets or or equities into the Randgold stock and made it the performing gold stock ever. So know, I think we set out to build something in Barrick Gold Corporation.

We were, you know, not we we were completely aware of the challenges we had, we weren’t prepared for the inflation and COVID and and the the sort of dynamic world that we’ve sort of entered into in the last couple of years. And and everything has just been put on steroids in in in the last yeah, twenty-eight days. And so you know, I think there’s a big question mark everywhere about where to be and what to look for and what’s been good for me is always focused in on on projects that make money in spite of the market. And and both, LaManna and Rickadeck and PV, Pueblo Vero, and four mile. Are all assets that will make money regardless. And so as the market gets their head around the fact that we’re still very clear. And and on top of that, there’s no other gold company where the shareholder the the management own as much as what the management in Barrick Gold Corporation owns.

So are very motivated to deliver against that plan and and, you know, we I mean, just to get back to your three points, you know, in in a form, we would exercise any one of those, not necessarily exactly how you explained it, but there’s each one of those ideas have have an option that we’ve already discussed in our team.

John Tumazos: Thank you.

Operator: The next question is from Joshua Ryals with RFI Associates. Please go ahead.

Joshua Ryals: Hi. Good afternoon. I wanna thank you you and your team, Mark, for your long-term commitment in acquiring reserves. At a very low cost without diluting shareholders as I’m a long-term investor. I’d wanted to kind of you know, continue on what mister Tomazes was saying, in the sense that the generalist investor has been pretty apt absent with gold mining stocks in the last few years, even as the gold price has risen because it wasn’t it wasn’t being realized at the bottom line due to higher cost in in some in some cases, lower production. It appears that your costs are stabilizing on the labor front, and on inputs like oil, and I wanted to ask you, do you do you see that continuing which is enabling the margins to really explode higher and it would seem to me at some point the generalist investor is gonna be awakened by these very rapidly increasing margins.

Gold is up almost nine hundred dollars since the beginning of last year, and you have all these tens of millions of dollars of reserves and tens of millions of ounces of reserves in the ground that you’ve acquired such a low cost. It seems like you’re in the catbird seat even with everybody focusing on Molly, which is like the tail wagging the dog. Far as I’m concerned. But I look as a long-term best.

Mark Bristow: No. Thanks, Josh. I mean, it’s like you know, I mean, you share exactly what I think. So the the point here is is that when you when when we we look at allocating and oh, let me start at the cost side first. First of all, if if you see you you need to start looking at the cash cost, c one cost, and then the all in sustaining costs. And there’s still a quite a big delta which we shared at the Investor Day. We’ll bring that down as we address some of the ongoing sustainability investments or sustainable investments into projects particularly in Nevada. But that is definitely we’re starting to manage that, and we’re starting to forecast that decline in in that extra capital sustaining capital requirement to to fix our assets.

And and I would just add that the success of being able to roll forward your ten-year plans always comes with an extra sustainable capital because you’ve now got more requirement to put in additional maintenance capital you got a bigger whole body and a longer life. And sometimes and and getting back to your second point, you know, I’ve I’ve been in this industry, I think, longer than you even. And and the one thing is you go through these periods where the equity becomes very focused on trade. And the gold equities have really been about short-term trades. And it’s we’ve now started seeing some of the longer-term investors come back in the stock. Certainly, all our big investors have re re, you know, grown their positions and now register again.

And and and we’ve got to really spend more time accessing those longer-term, pools of capital, which are investor team investor relations team is focused on. And it’s, you know and and and a lot of the real focus has been on the physical because of this obsession and, correctly, so of the the the high-risk nature of global economy, and and the geopolitical situation across the world including Canada and North America. So it is a very dynamic place. And so in in my experiences, to survive in dynamics like that because I grew in geopolitically very dynamic. I grew up in those sort of markets, is make sure that your assets are bulletproof. As far as viability goes. So and we’ve definitely got that. So I think we’re in very good shape, and and and again, it’s our job to be able to explain to people when you buy our stock you have to buy it from another owner.

Because we definitely don’t issue it. Because we’re also buying it in the market. So know, that in itself is a story of who we are in Barrick Gold Corporation and how our outlook for our our business and ensuring that we continue to create value for our shareholders. And and it’s it’s the did and we’re starting to get our head around that. And with the growth now and the decisions made, we can we can really look on a little harder on how we can work to John’s point. To unlock that value, and that and we will do that.

Joshua Ryals: Thank you. Pleasure.

Operator: There are no more questions from the conference call.

Mark Bristow: Alright. Well, thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for your time and those who phoned in. And and, again, as usual, our team is all available. You reach out to any of us or to our website, we’ll be available to take questions then for those shareholders on the call, we’ll probably be speaking to you in the next day or two. So again, chat to you soon. Thank you again for your time.

Operator: This concludes today’s event. Should you have additional questions, please contact the Barrick Gold Corporation Investor Relations department. You may disconnect your lines. Thank you for participating, and have a pleasant day.