Alerted its shareholders to expect an M&A transaction to boost its presence in Canada and stated the have active DD on a project that is teir 1 not yet in production.I have speculated on my 30+ yrs watching Barrick grow on M&A of others drill bit rather than their own that they are very likely eyeing up SBB and its 12 million oz oz high grade gold fully permitted fully funded and under construction.They said the passed on GBR as it had no resource calculation and was priced too high at $1.8 billion sai CEO Bristow.For now I have also rueld out they would have any interest in AMX with out a 43-101.SBB the the prime target for ABX or AEM.
Yet today the hint at the 4 pillars for a M&A deal and SBB fits all of them:
BARRICK EXTENDS GLOBAL EXPLORATION REACH Barrick continues to expand its global exploration footprint as a renewed and re-energized team hunts down opportunities across an expanding global footprint.
In North America, the search has expanded from Nevada to active projects in Canada. The intensified exploration drive in Latin America led to an entry into the Guiana Shield, and in Africa & the Middle East, new projects have been initiated in Zambia, Tanzania and Egypt. A new Asia Pacific team is making progress towards the reconstitution and restart of Reko Diq in Pakistan, as well as Japan, while also looking for other fresh opportunities.
President and chief executive Mark Bristow said in pursuit of Barrick's global growth strategy, significant changes have been made in the senior management of the exploration team, led by Joel Holliday.
Three of the four regional exploration teams - Latin America, Africa & Middle East and Asia Pacific - are now being managed by new vice-presidents, two of whom were internal appointments. In Canada, the recently created positions of exploration manager and new opportunities manager were filled and a dedicated growth manager for the Latin America and Asia Pacific regions has been appointed.
"Our geological teams now have strength in depth and we're building a pipeline of high-potential managers and technical specialists. The highly experienced new appointees are already driving significant change and this renewed energy and focus is already delivering robust results," Bristow said.
The exploration strategy is designed to:
- deliver short to medium term projects that will support improvements in mine plans;
- make new discoveries for Barrick's Tier One gold and copper portfolio;
- optimize the value of major undeveloped projects; and
- identify and secure emerging opportunities early in their value curve