Bristow said a “difficult” decision would come in a month or so on whether to put the operation on care and maintenance, likely a cost of around $10 million per month, if talks fail. The Toronto-based miner applied to the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes in December for arbitration. The mine is excluded for the time being from company guidance, and returns to forecasts from 2027, he said.
“It would not be a good thing to lose Loulo, not for anyone’s sake, and particularly not for Mali’s,” the CEO said. “But equally for us, we are longstanding partners in Mali. Every one of our operations are independently viable, and Barrick’s balance sheet is very solid and and so with or without, Loulo will not change our long term plan, our five-year plan.”
Shares in Barrick Gold shot up 6% on Tuesday in Toronto to $25.88 apiece after the company beat fourth-quarter estimates and said it…
