Despite suffering some losses, Barrick Gold Corporation is doing fine. The gold mine that Barrick Gold is administering in Dominican territory is one of the businesses that the Canadian company is depending on in order to improve its profits, given the decrease in earnings in 2012 and investor demands for a change in the gold industry.
In a report dated 14 February and published on the mining company’s webpage, which contains the results of the company’s performance in 2012, the company reports a net loss of US$3.06 billion (US$3.06 per share) in the fourth quarter of the year, “including a US$4.2 billion after-tax impairment charge primarily related to our copper business unit.” For all of 2012 Barrick reported a net loss of US$0.67 billion (US$670,000,000) and US$0.66 a share, “including after-tax impairment charges of $4.4 billion.” (NT: “Adjusted net earnings of $3.83 billion ($3.82 per share) were the second highest in the company’s history.”) The high costs, beyond what was foreseen, led the company to decide to sell Barrick Energy and not expand the copper mine at Lumwana, Zambia. For the full Barrick report: www.barrick.com/investors/news/news-details/2013/Barrick-Reports-Fourth-Quarter-and-Full-Year-2012-Results/default.aspx)
On 27 February, President Danilo Medina issued a “last” call for Barrick Gold to sit down with the government to review the fiscal aspects of the Pueblo Viejo mining contract, since he considers the current gold sales income distribution scheme to be “unacceptable.” The mining company has stated its willingness, but says that it faces limitations due to the commitments undertaken with the institutions that are financing the project. A mediation specialist and negotiation consultant, Nelson Espinal Baez, says that the fact that the mining company lowered its global earnings “is not an objective criteria for opposing a renegotiation (process) with the Dominican government.”
In an editorial today, Diario Libre comments that the Barrick situation can be strategically put to work for the Dominican Republic in the negotiations the government seeks to advance with the mining company.
www.diariolibre.com/opinion/2013/03/04/i373757_los-negocios-barrick.html