Hey all...

Just wondering if anyone on the island has heard and is willing to share any unpublished info on the prospects for this gold mine. I remember seeing some articles on the site earlier this month, and it seemed like things were finally rolling along for Barrick. I'm considering an investment in Barrick so any info helps towards m decision. Thanks!

I don't have anything at hand right now, but I have seen that the contract with them have been met with widespread disapproval on the part of our press and public opinion, because many geological experts (like Osiris De Leon) maintain that the operations of the company will further pollute the environment in the Central Cibao area. And what is worse, the new contract extipulates that the dominican state will be unable to collect taxes from them for the first six years of the company's operation in the mine, or only when the company itself consider that it have had benefits during the time.

I thought the Pueblo Viejo mine was operated by Falconbridge. Whatever happened to Falconbridge?

the way of the Betamax and the Passenger pigeon and the Dodo bird

Not sure what happened to falconbridge but when I was reading the financial statements for Barrick I remembered they had been mentioned here on DT.com, and Pueblo Viejo was listed as one of their prospective mines.

Laut sorry to hear the local experts think they may be a net polluter. Unlike the Haitises I haven't heard of popular movement around stopping Barrick's mining, so I'm presuming the path is clear and hope someone here has some info if that isn't the case.

Pueblo Viejo is the old Rosario mine near Cotui. It is a 60/40 JV between Barrick Gold and GoldCorp. The mine has a special license to operate under the law according to a special decree by congress. I believe they recently ask Congress to amend some of the provisions as the capital cost is now $3.2bn. It was originally awarded to Placer Dome in a public tender. Barrick acquired Placer Dome about 10 years ago.

Those who are old enough should remember the Rosario mine was operated by the military and is now a huge environmental disaster. One of the benefits of the mine is that the new operation will remediate all of the past environmental problems, reducing the government's share of the clean-up to around $38M.

I haven't seen the contract, but I am sure the government will have an equity stake (carried) and enjoy significant revenues once the tax holiday is over. This is a 30 year project. Not to mention the communities of Maimon and Cotui will receive direct money for infrastructure and education.

There are currently over 2000 people working in construction and the max will be around 5000 in 12 months or so. Normal employment will be around 2500 and come mostly from the surrounding communities.

As far as investing, ABX is the premier gold mining company. It is really a proxy for gold, so if you think gold is going up, you should BUY them. They also have a bigger project under construction in Argentina.

Hope this helps.

Edit: Falcondo is the nickel mine owned by XStrata (formerly Falconbridge) near Bonao. It was shuttered in 2008 and is on care and maintenance until nickel prices improve.

Gringo1 my eye is definitely on ABX You seem knowledgeable on the firm, do you know where they stand on closing their hedging portfolio by year end? I'm looking to get in on ABX next time it dips <40 and hopefully before their next quarterly results or before they announce the hedges are gone and they can start 'minting money'!

There hedge book made them king in the 80's and 90's when gold was around $300 and they were selling it above $600. Now with gold at record levels, it has become an albatross. From their Oct 28 Press Release:

"in September, Barrick announced a plan to eliminate all of its Gold Hedges within 12 months and a substantial portion of the liability related to its fully participating Floating Contracts. The Gold Hedges are contracts where Barrick has sold forward gold ounces and will receive a fixed price upon delivering into these contracts. As such, Barrick does not benefit from any increase in the price of gold but the mark-to-market (MTM) liability, or costs of these contracts, will increase with a rise in the gold price. The Floating Contracts were previously fixed contracts that have been neutralized by entering into an offsetting contract where the gold has been repurchased. The impact was to fix the loss on these contracts at that point, such that it will not change with subsequent movements in the gold price but will incur a financing charge. Conversely, the Company will fully benefit from any subsequent increase in the price of gold.
Barrick made this decision to gain full leverage to the gold price on all future production based on an increasingly positive outlook for gold. In addition, the gold hedge book has been a particular concern among our shareholders. We believe the hedge book obscured the many positive developments within the Company and adversely impacted the investment community's ability to analyze and evaluate the Company, thereby reducing its appeal to the broader market. By eliminating the Gold Hedges, Barrick will now fully participate in the movement of the gold price and will be able to provide greater clarity around its capital structure. To fund the elimination of the Gold Hedges and a substantial portion of the Floating Contracts liability, Barrick issued new equity for net proceeds of $3.9 billion and subsequent to the third quarter issued $1.25 billion in new long-term debt securities. The debt securities are comprised of $400 million of 4.95% notes due 2020 and $850 million of 5.95% notes due 2039."

Thanks gringo and anthonyC, I actually had those articles but any new info that comes up do share.

Among other choices I'm also looking at GDX, an ETF tracking all gold miners.