Barrick CEO says miner has financial 'firepower' for deals - Bloomberg
Dec. 12, 2019 5:39 PM ETBarrick Gold Corporation (GOLD), FCXGOLD, FCXBy: Carl Surran, SA News Editor36 Comments
- Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) has the financial heft it needs to support its loftiest ambitions, CEO Mark Bristow says, also describing admiration but not interest in a deal - at least not yet - for Freeport McMoRan (NYSE:FCX).
- "We've definitely got the firepower to build a mine or to support a transaction," Bristow tells Bloomberg, noting the company will reach "net debt zero" by the end of next year.
- Bristow said last month he could see logic to combining Barrick with FCX; now he says while it makes sense to start an "intellectual conversation" about such a deal, Barrick has no plans to rush into anything after spending three years putting together its tie-up with Randgold Resources.
- For now, Barrick is more likely to sell copper than buy it; he says the company has "received inbound interest" in its Lumwana copper mine in Zambia.
- Barrick has a long-term gold strategy and not on copper, but "if we want to be a materially relevant organization focused on gold, we're going to have to get our head around copper," and FCX is "the purest of all the copper miners."