Barrick Gold announced on April 6, 2017 that as a first step in a new partnership with Shandong Gold Mining, of China, Shandong will acquire a 50% interest in Barrick’s Veladero mine in San Juan province, Argentina, for $960 million. As a second step, Barrick and Shandong will form a working group to explore the joint development of the cross-border Argentina-Chile Pascua-Lama deposit, which is located 10 km from Veladero. As a third step, both companies will evaluate additional investment opportunities on the highly prospective El Indio gold belt on the Argentina-Chile border, which hosts a cluster of world-class gold mines and projects, including Veladero and Pascua-Lama.
Barrick’s agreement with Shandong was its second major co-operation agreement in Latin America in eight days. On March 28, the company announced a joint-venture agreement with Goldcorp for development of the Cerro Casale and Caspiche gold projects in northern Chile (E&MJ, April 2017, p. 4).
