For many decades, Barrick Gold has represented one of the biggest gold companies in the world. With multiple active operations around the globe, this colossal corporation continues to grow, menacing in a healthy fashion those other companies present in this prestigious rank.
Involved in gold, silver, and copper, the board of Barrick Gold has always preferred the yellow metal for multiple reasons.

After a complicated start, the company had to adjust its direction in order to be more competitive and work where the highest profitability resided.

In the following lines, we will talk about the highlights of Barrick Gold as a gold company over the decades, its active operations, and other details that may be interesting for us, enthusiasts for the yellow metal.

Brief History of Barrick Gold

Barrick Resources was born in Toronto, Canada as a company focused on gas and oil during a time of turmoil and uncertainty. After big losses in this business, the board decided to reform the company and focus on gold.

The first mine acquisition for Barrick Resources was the Renabie mine in Ottawa, an asset that produced 48,000 ounces in 1990. The next move was buying Camflo Mining, a company that ran multiple operations in Canada and the US but had and important debt.

Shortly after, Barrick Resources repaid the debt and started enjoying the new operations in Quebec and Nevada. The same year, Barrick Resources acquired two new mines: the Mercur Mine in Utah and the Goldstrike Mine in Nevada.

In 1986, Barrick Resources became American Barrick Resources before listing on the NYSE. By that moment, the company had already 3 years of operations on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

In 1995, American Barrick Resources adopts its actual name, Barrick Gold Corporation, and continued with its aggressive growth strategy. In the following years, the company acquired Lac Minerals in Canada, Arequipa Resources in Peru, Sutton Resources Ltd. in Tanzania, and the Homestake Mining Company in the United States. With the acquisition of Placer Dome Inc. in 2006, Barrick Gold became the largest gold producer in the world.

During the last decade, Barrick Gold acquired several more companies in the same industry and engaged a long-lasting legal conflict over gold loans and rights of operation with NovaGold Resources over Pioneer Metals. This conflict continues as both companies seem to have personal reasons invested in it.

Active Gold Operations

Nowadays, Barrick Gold has four core operations based on gold in different regions of the world. These are Barrick Nevada in Cortez and Goldstrike, Lagunas Norte in Peru, Pueblo Viejo in the Dominican Republic, and Veladero in Argentina.

Also, there are five gold operations that aren’t part of the company’s main strategy. Nevertheless, they produce outstanding numbers while being co-joint ventures with other organizations in the sector. These operations are Golden Sunlight in Montana, Hemlo in Canada, Kalgoorlie in Australia, Porgera in Papua New Guinea, and Turquoise Ridge in Nevada.

As we mentioned before, Barrick Gold is also involved in the silver and copper businesses. The ongoing operations that focus on these are Jabal Sayid in Saudi Arabia, Lumwana in Zambia, and Zaldívar in Chile.