traded as tsx abx nyse abx s & p tsx 60 component industry metals and mining founded 1983 ; 33 years ago 1983 founder peter munk headquarters toronto canada key people john l. thornton chairman kelvin dushnisky president richard williams coo shaun usmar cfo products gold silver copper website www.barrick.com barrick gold corporation is the largest gold mining company in the world with its headquarters in toronto ontario canada . barrick is currently undertaking mining projects in argentina australia canada chile the dominican republic papua new guinea peru saudi arabia the united states and zambia . for 2013 it produced 7.2 million ounces of gold at all in sustaining costs of us 915 ounce and 539 million pounds of copper at c1 cash costs of 1.92 pound . as of december 31 2013 its proven and probable mineral reserves were 104.1 million ounces of gold 888 million ounces of silver contained within gold reserves and 14.0 billion pounds of copper . on january 20 2006 barrick acquired a majority share of placer dome . the production of the combined organization moved barrick to its current position as the largest gold producer ahead of newmont mining corporation . contents 1 history 1.1 founding and early years 1.2 1986 to 2005 1.3 placer dome acquisition 1.4 2006 to present 2 operations 2.1 argentina 2.2 australia 2.3 canada 2.4 chile 2.5 dominican republic 2.6 papua new guinea 2.7 peru 2.8 saudi arabia 2.9 united states 2.10 zambia 3 mining practices 3.1 relations to local populations 3.2 renewable energy 4 legal controversy 5 enviromental issues 6 see also 7 references 8 further reading 9 external links history edit founding and early years edit barrick gold corporation evolved from a privately held north american oil and gas company 1 barrick resources . 2 after suffering huge financial losses in oil and gas 3 principal peter munk decided to focus on gold . 4 barrick resources corporation became a publicly traded company on may 2 1983 5 listing on the toronto stock exchange . 6 the company s first acquisition was the renabie mine near wawa ontario 7 which produced around 16 000 troy ounces 0.50 t of gold in 1984 8 but its best year was 1990 with 48 000 ounces produced . 9 in 1984 barrick acquired camflo mining 10 which had operations in the province of quebec 8 and in the u.s. state of nevada . 11 barrick s effort to purchase was slowed by skepticism the company could assume camflo s debt of around 100 million . 12 the sale was finalized in may 1984 with terms that obligated barrick to repay the debt to the royal bank of canada within one year . 13 the debt was fully paid in january 1985 . 14 barrick resource s next acquisition was the mercur mine in mercur utah in june 1985 15 followed by the goldstrike mine in nevada in 1986 . 16 the goldstrike mine is located on the carlin trend . 1986 to 2005 edit the company s name was changed to american barrick resources in 1986 . 17 it was listed on the new york stock exchange in february 1987 . 18 the name was changed to the present barrick gold corporation in 1995 . 19 in a 1994 friendly takeover american barrick became the third largest gold mining company in the world when it acquired the canadian mining company lac minerals which owned properties in north and south america . 20 two years later in 1996 arequipa resources owner of properties including the pierina mine in peru accepted a takeover offer from the renamed barrick gold corporation worth about usd 800 000 000 . 21 a third acquisition followed in early 1999 when barrick gold acquired sutton resources ltd. for around 350 million in stock assuming ownership of properties in tanzania . 22 in 2001 barrick gold made another stock deal worth about usd 2.3 billion to buy the homestake mining company then one of the oldest mining companies in the united states . 23 the purchase moved barrick to second largest gold producer in the world . 23 placer dome acquisition edit the company offered us 9.2 billion for placer dome inc. in a bid announced october 31 2005 . 24 during the following weeks placer dome recommended shareholders reject the offer . 25 in december placer dome s board of directors approved an increased offer worth us 10.4 billion . 26 the transaction closed in early 2006 making barrick the world s largest gold producer . 27 2006 to present edit on july 24 2006 barrick announced their intent to purchase novagold resources and pioneer metals . the unsolicited bid for novagold resources was at us 1.29 billion or us 14.50 per share and the solicited bid for pioneer metals was at us 53 million or us .88 per share . novagold management quickly characterized barrick s bid for their company as undervalued . pioneer management however quickly endorsed barrick s bid for their company . previously on june 19 2006 novagold made an unsolicited bid for pioneer metals at us 31 million . novagold and pioneer are currently in litigation over the grace project in british columbia canada . that project is adjacent to novagold s galore creek project and 75 kilometers away from barrick s eskay creek mine . novagold and barrick also cross paths at the donlin creek project in alaska where novagold is 70 % owner and barrick is 30 % owner however barrick has the right to earn in a 70 % share as a result of their takeover of placer dome in january 2006 . on august 14 2006 novagold filed a lawsuit in british columbia canada alleging that barrick misused confidential information to make its bid for pioneer metals . as part of the suit novagold is asking that any shares tendered to barrick under the pioneer bid be held in a trust for novagold . on august 25 2006 novagold filed a second lawsuit against barrick this time in the district of alaska court alleging that barrick violated u.s. security laws by misrepresenting its position by repeatedly stating it is on track to earn a 70 % interest in the donlin creek mine . the suit sought a temporary suspension of barrick s hostile bid for novagold . on december 16 2006 after extending the bid for novagold 6 times increasing the offer once and lowering the threshold for takeup of tendered shares from 75 % to 50 % and then to no minimum barrick finally let the bid expire . the net result for barrick was a takeup of 12.7 % of the outstanding novagold shares . barrick s then chief executive greg wilkins indicated that the company would look elsewhere for acquisition opportunities . more recently the company was reported to be eyeing aurelian resources in ecuador . 28 in november 2007 novagold and teck cominco announced the suspension of galore creek project and nova gold share plummeted . during the summer and autumn of 2008 nova gold tried to put their rock creek project in alaska into production . after less than two months of operation production was shut down for obscure reasons . on january 2 2009 nova gold announced a 60 million dollar private placement for a 30 % control in the company valuing the company at approximately 200 million dollars or 1 8 of the price offered by barrick two years earlier . 29 through 2007 and 2008 the company offered a usd 10 million prize to the scientific community in a bid to improve silver recovery rates at its veladero mine in argentina . 30 recovery rates for silver were below 7 % because the metal is bound within silica which is difficult to dissolve using conventional cyanidation processing . 30 1 750 researchers from 43 countries registered as participants with 130 proposals submitted . 31 nine proposals were selected for testing . 32 barrick gold created the largest stock offering in canadian history during 2009 33 when it issued a 3 billion equity offering which was increased the following day to 3.5 billion in response to market demand . 34 revenue from the offering was used to eliminate the company s gold hedges which locked in the sale price of future production rather than selling it at market prices . 35 in february 2010 barrick gold announced plans to create a separate company to hold its assets in tanzania called african barrick gold . 36 barrick gold would retain majority ownership in the new company after its listing on the london stock exchange . 36 african barrick gold was listed on the london stock exchange in mid march 2010 with an ipo valuation at us 3.6 billion . 37 the shares offered on the lse raised just more than 500 million pounds . 38 in june the company was admitted to the ftse 100 index . 39 in april 2011 barrick beat a takeover offer for equinox minerals by china minmetals . 40 41 in august 2013 barrick agreed to sell its yilgarn south assets in western australia to south africa s gold fields for us300 million divesting its granny smith darlot and lawlers mine operations . in july 2014 barrick announced changes to its executive management structure . kevin dushnisky and jim gowans current coo have been appointed as co presidents taking responsibility for execution of the company s operating plans and strategic priorities . current cfo ammar al joundi is being promoted to senior executive vice president . in conjunction with the restructuring jamie sokalsky will be stepping down effective september 15 2014 . operations edit barrick is organized into ten operating units 42 five individual gold mines cortez goldstrike pueblo viejo lagunas norte and veladero two gold mine portfolios north america other and australia pacific 9 % equity interest in african barrick gold plc one global copper business one project pascua lama argentina edit veladero mine australia edit cowal gold mine super pit gold mine 50 % ownership canada edit hemlo gold mine chile edit pascua lama zaldivar copper mine 50 % ownership dominican republic edit pueblo viejo mine 60 % ownership papua new guinea edit porgera gold mine 95 % ownership peru edit lagunas norte mine pierina gold mine saudi arabia edit jabal sayid development united states edit bald mountain mine cortez gold mine golden sunlight mine goldstrike mine round mountain gold mine 50 % ownership turquoise ridge gold mine 75 % ownership zambia edit lumwana mine mining practices edit barrick gold has been accused of a number of environmentally unsound practices by environmental groups . 43 44 45 the company has countered accusations by activists challenging the accuracy of criticisms . 46 it reported environment related spending of usd 89 million in 2009 . 47 the super pit gold mine looking down into the porgera open pit . relations to local populations edit in april and may 2008 indigenous leaders from four countries opposing large scale gold mining on their lands described the adverse impacts of barrick gold corporation . these leaders spoke of barrick gold s tactics in suppressing dissident voices dividing communities and manipulating local and national politics . 48 they also related stories about lack of free prior and informed consent for local people . 48 barrick is party to a lawsuit originally filed against placer dome inc. by the local government claiming compensation for the 1996 marcopper mining disaster . barrick gold inherited the litigation after taking over placer dome inc. 49 in 2008 the company negotiated an agreement with four of five regional western shoshone tribes providing financial resources for education and wellness initiatives including a long term scholarship program allocated at the tribes discretion . 50 a former tribal chairman of the duck valley shoshone spoke of the company as a pretty progressive entity . 51 in british columbia the tahltan nation has thanked the company for encouraging local sustainable