Barrick Gold has completed the $610m sale of its 50% stake in the Round Mountain mine and 100% of the Bald Mountain mine in Nevada, US, to Kinross Gold.
Barrick Gold president Kelvin Dushnisky said: "In line with our strategy, we announced asset sales, joint ventures and partnerships worth $3.2bn in 2015, allowing us to achieve our debt reduction target of $3bn for the year, while improving our liquidity and further focusing the company’s portfolio on core mines that drive free cash-flow.
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"We are also excited to form a new exploration partnership with Kinross that will allow us to maintain significant exposure to a highly prospective land package at Bald Mountain."
The sale is part of agreements signed by Barrick Gold in November 2015 to offload its non-core assets in US for $720m to cut debt by $3bn this year.
Kinross Gold president and CEO Paul Rollinson said: "The acquisition expands our existing portfolio in Nevada, one of the best mining jurisdictions in the world, and provides clear upside potential."
The Bald Mountain property covers a 600km² prospective land package along the southern extension of the Carlin trend.
The companies have also completed the formation of an exploration joint venture (JV) covering a large land package on the Bald Mountain property.
Under the 50-50 JV, Kinross will leverage Barrick Gold’s area expertise to explore and develop 40% of the land package outside the existing core mining area.
The latest development follows the company’s sale of its 70% interest in the Spring Valley project and its 100% interest in the Ruby Hill mine to Waterton Precious Metals Fund II Cayman subsidiaries for $110m in December 2015.
Image: Barrick signed agreements to sell a number of non-core assets in Nevada, including the Bald Mountain mine. Photo: courtesy of Barrick Gold Corporation.
