Barrick Mining's controversial leader, Mark Bristow, has unexpectedly stepped down for unknown reasons, and will be replaced on an interim basis by Mark Hill as chief executive and COO.
Barrick Mining's controversial leader, Mark Bristow , has unexpectedly stepped down for unknown reasons, and will be replaced on an interim basis by Mark Hill as chief executive and COO.The surprise departure follows Bristow's successful participation in the Mining Forum Americas conference in Colorado Springs in September, when he was visibly relaxed and smiling and delivered news of a preliminary economic assessment for the Fourmile gold project in Nevada, USA, with a concept to produce 750,000 ozpa.
Recent years have seen increasing speculation about Barrick's succession plan, although Bristow previously told Mining Journal that he was "not going anywhere until Reko Diq is built." The Reko Diq copper-gold project in Pakistan is due to produce its first metal in 2028."During his tenure, Mark strengthened our portfolio and helped position Barrick as a leading global producer of gold and copper. As a result, the Company is well-positioned for the next phase of our growth and value creation for all shareholders. We wish Mark the very best for his future," said Barrick Mining chair John Thornton.Bristow yearsBristow became chief executive following Barrick's 2019 mega merger with Randgold Resources, where he was chief executive. At the time, Barrick was the world's largest gold producer, and this transaction forced the pace of consolidation in the sector, with rival Newmont responding with a mega-merger of its own, taking Golcorp. Newmont, now the world's largest gold producer, has subsequently divested most of the assets it acquired with Goldcorp.Barrick then took a run at Newmont in 2019 as a means to force the merger of the Nevada operations of the two companies, resulting in the creation of Nevada Gold Mines , owned 61.5% and operated by Barrick and 38.5% owned by Newmont. Barrick said the new joint venture would rank as the largest global gold-producing complex "by a wide margin", containing three of the world's top 10 tier one gold assets: Barrick's Cortez mine, and the combination of Barrick's Goldstrike with Newmont's Carlin, and Barrick's Turquoise Ridge with Newmont's Twin Creeks. Synergies from the merger were expected to deliver up to US$500 million per year in cost savings over the first five years from 2020.Fourmile may be Bristow's redemption as its size and grade present NGM JV partner Newmont with a tough decision. Barrick can choose to put Fourmile into NGM at a market price, meaning Newmont either has to dilute out of one of the world's major gold-producing complexes or pay its rival several billion in cash.NGM was the apogee of Bristow's career, as he subsequently took Barrick down a path that has been punished by the market as its production and performance declined, which saw it pushed into third spot by Agnico Eagle Mines. Even as Barrick's performance started to improve this year, it was overshadowed by rivals, whose performance accelerated more.Bristow, a geologist, preferred to obtain ounces through the drill bit rather than the chequebook. Whilst this strategy has delivered success at Fourmile, it has been a slower pace, at a time when markets have been rewarding more aggressive actions. However, he adamantly refused to pay a premium for an acquisition, which saw the company miss the opportunity to acquire Great Bear Resources, despite having made several due diligence visits and bought into other early stage explorers with ground that flanked the Dixie project. Great Bear was eventually purchased before it issued a resource estimate by Kinross Gold in 2021 for $1.4 billion. Kinross issued a PEA on the project in September 2024 outlining a production scenario of 500,000ozpa.Tier oneBristow focused on copper rather than gold and higher-risk projects such as Reko Diq and the Luwana super pit in Zambia. His argument was that copper projects are bigger and have a longer life than gold projects and will provide sustained performance. As part of this strategy, he voluntarily gave up the GOLD ticker on the New York Stock Exchange for the more benign B earlier this year.Bristow, a geologist, was focused on Barrick having the tier one deposits in its portfolio, regardless of the jurisdiction. As a result, the company was a regular visitor to the World Bank's International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, which enabled it to turnaround troubled projects in Mali, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea and Tanzania. Bristow believed that large deposits could transform the economies and growth of their host countries and provide an impetus for working out an agreement for their development. He still believed this was possible for the massive Pascua gold deposit in Chile, whose construction was blocked by environmental courts and where the company has invested more than $1 billion so far without any production.The company has opened a new arbitration case against Mali, having failed to reach an agreement with the government to restart operations at Loulo-Gounkoto. It has filed for interim relief to protect the asset. Other gold miners in Mali, including Allied Gold, B2Gold and Endeavour Mining, have reached updated agreements with the military government, but Barrick refused to."Chile is a place where when, I took over Barrack, it had a lot of liabilities and not a clear way forward. We have addressed those issues and rebuilt our license to operate within that country. It is a foundational destination if you want to be a miner in South America. The old Pascua project doesn't work, and we are reestablishing a different focus, and we are well-advanced on the preliminary evaluation of that, looking at a new way of developing it," Bristow told Mining Journal at the Mining Forum Americas.Mark HillBristow has been asked about his succession plan for several years. He typically answered that the company has a pool of young executives to whom he is delegating responsibility to see who will rise to the occasion. Mark Hill is currently responsible for Barrick's Latam and Asia Pacific regions. He joined Barrick in 2006 and has 30 years of experience in strategy, corporate development and leading major projects. He was integral in the initial decision to undertake exploration at Fourmile. TThe value of shares in Barrick Mining has increased by 64% over the past year. They are trading higher in pre-market trading at $34.80, valuing the company at $58.8 billion.
John Thornton Reko Diq Nevada Gold Mines Fourmile Great Bear Lumwana Pascua Lama
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