Gold may have been the most lucrative asset on the otherwise weak commodity market in 2023. In the chart you can see the development of the gold price since the beginning of 2023 (as of December 15, 2023, 2:30 pm):
Source: Frankfurt Stock Exchange (https://www.boerse-frankfurt.de/rohstoff/goldpreis)

And gold may remain lucrative in 2024 as well. Recently, the renowned World Gold Council (WGC) analyzed several scenarios for the coming year and concluded that gold could possibly maintain a strong level or even surprise positively in 2024. The reasons for this include macroeconomic risks (weakening global economy), likely declining interest rates, and not least geopolitical uncertainties, such as the potential re-election of Donald Trump in the fall of 2024.

Gold Rush Mine: Barrick Gold Reports Progress No wonder then that a new gold rush has broken out in the industry. At the forefront: Barrick Gold. In an interview with the “Financial Post”, CEO Mark Bristow recently expressed an intensification of gold mining.

And indeed, Barrick was able to present two successes in this regard in the past few days. The Canadians have received the green light from the BLM (“Bureau of Land Management”) in the USA for the operating plan of the underground mine Goldrush in the Cortez complex in Nevada.

Background: Barrick is pushing the project forward together with the US gold prime Newmont. The Canadians hold 61.5 percent of Goldrush through the joint venture NGM (Nevada Gold Mines), with the remaining 38.5 percent falling to the Americans. The mine is scheduled to go into operation in 2024 and initially produce 130,000 ounces per year. By 2028, the annual output is expected to increase to around 400,000 ounces.

Barrick and NGM have so far invested more than $370 million in the project. To fully realize the production potential, a total of almost $1 billion is planned. CEO Bristow, for his part, connects the new mine with considerable growth opportunities over a long period of time.

Copper too: Adjacent deposit Fourmile arouses desire Interesting is the approval from the US government also with regard to the adjacent deposit Fourmile. In September, Barrick had presented new details in this regard. According to this, exploration drilling and economic appraisals had shown that Fourmile could produce 300,000 to 400,000 ounces of gold per year.

In addition, large quantities of copper would be added. CEO Bristow sees copper as an important supplement, especially with regard to its importance for the energy transition. By the end of the 2020s, the company wants to mine around 450,000 tonnes of copper per year. That would be more than twice as much as in 2022.

Papua New Guinea: Porgera project before restart Only one day before the announcement about the Goldrush approval, Barrick had also announced progress regarding its Porgera project. According to this, the mine in Papua New Guinea should resume operations in the fourth quarter of 2023. Gold production could therefore restart in the first quarter of 2024.

The site was placed in maintenance and care mode in 2020 after a dispute with the local government and population. In the meantime, however, the conflicting parties have agreed. Barrick CEO Bristow spoke of „a long road“ in this regard.

51 percent of the mine belongs to local landowners and the Papua New Guinean state. The remaining 49 percent is accounted for by the joint venture BNL (Barrick Niugini Limited), which in turn is managed by Barrick Gold and the Chinese actor Zijin Mining. BNL is to operate the gold mine. According to previous estimates, its capacity is a total of 700,000 ounces per year.

In addition to Barrick and its Chinese partner, the company from Papua New Guinea will benefit the most from this, as the state will receive more than 50 percent of Porgera’s revenues. Barrick had agreed with the government on such a partner model in order to settle the long-standing dispute. The gold company had already pursued a similar strategy in Tanzania and intends to be generous in its new gold and copper project in Pakistan (Reko Diq). Barrick should nonetheless generate annual billion-dollar revenues in Papua New Guinea despite the partial surrender to the state.

My conclusion for you Barrick Gold is on a growth path. The company is pulling out all the stops to increase its output – both gold and copper. In my opinion, these two raw materials are particularly promising, which gives the share a solid perspective.