Gold miners talk about expanding after years of cost-cutting monologues
VANCOUVER/TORONTO — For the first time in five years, Barrick Gold and other bullion miners are getting ready to expand, breaking from their monologue on cutting costs and debt because of tumbling gold prices.Backed by healthier balance sheets, a 17% rise in the price of gold since January to $1,244 an ounce and new investors, miners from Canada to Australia and SA are studying ways to raise production.At the world’s biggest gold miner, growth was not a priority in recent years, said Rob Krcmarov, Barrick’s vice-president of exploration and growth, as the company sold assets to reduce its $14bn debt 40%. "Now some of our investors are starting to ask us: what is next?" Krcmarov said. Barrick created a "growth committee" in March to evaluate in-house projects, exploration opportunities and acquisitions.Early signs of activity include Kinross Gold’s March decision to expand its Mauritanian gold mine. In May, Goldcorp paid C$520m ($406.44m) for a gold project in Canada’s Arctic."What t...
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