By Liezel Hill
Bloomberg
Barrick Gold Corp. is betting growth will come from Nevada, where the world’s largest producer scored its first big success three decades ago, after more than $9 billion in writedowns and cost overruns in the past two years on projects from the Andes to Zambia.
Chief Executive Officer Jamie Sokalsky said yesterday the Toronto-based company doubled the estimated resources at the Goldrush deposit in Nevada last year, even as it sells assets and cuts spending elsewhere to revive that slumped 24 percent. Barrick is also pushing ahead with Pascua-Lama, a gold and silver mine on the Chile-Argentina border it expects to open next year.
“The priorities for the company, once we finish Pascua- Lama, really are focused on Nevada,” Sokalsky said yesterday on the company’s earnings call. “We have one of the most exciting exploration finds in recent memory, the Goldrush discovery, to ultimately add to this Nevada production in the future.”