Barrick Gold investments in Saudi Arabia exceed hundreds of millions of dollars: CEO

Mark Bristow, CEO of Barrick Gold Corp.

Barrick Gold Corp.'s investments in Saudi Arabia are estimated at more than hundreds of millions of dollars, CEO Mark Bristow told Argaam in an exclusive during the Future Minerals Forum held in Riyadh.

He indicated that the company is committed to reinvesting more in the Kingdom, due to the legislative frameworks that facilitated access to capital.

The company has joint ventures with Saudi Arabian Mining Co. (Maaden) in Jabal Sayid area, western Saudi Arabia, to manage and operate a high-quality, low-cost copper mine.

During the forum, an agreement was signed with Maaden to establish a 50/50 limited liability company, with the aim of accelerating the resources exploration, in line with the strategy of work on Umm Ad Damar site.

"The company's business in the Kingdom is old", the CEO said, indicating that the transformation in Saudi Arabia is very attractive and the mining strategy contributed to attracting investors.

Barrick Gold is working on building a large copper mine in Pakistan and is investing heavily in the Kingdom.

The Future Minerals Forum encouraged holding serious talks with the concerned parties, which has never taken place in the western world.

The global system is witnessing changes after several advanced economies faced aging population and young people who are unable to be much more productive. Meanwhile, some emerging markets, especially South Asia and even the Middle East, have young energies and the ability to invest in institutions, which is very attractive to a new world.

Regarding his forecasts for gold prices, Bristow said the precious metal achieved its target in 2022, beating expectations. He indicated that the S&P index fell 19% year-on-year and Dow Jones dropped 9%, while gold prices rose 3%.

Further, the CEO stressed the importance of investing in gold at this time, given the policy of quantitative easing and what he described as "reckless management of finances" around the world, which contributed to inflation hike.

Gold has a very strong base, and with the use of the US dollar as a weapon, there are concerns about using it in the budget of central banks as a reserve currency.

China announced just two days ago that it had bought another 100 tons of gold; hence the central banks will seek in 2023 to buy more gold than they had in the past 70 years.

Risks are usually associated with the upward movement of gold prices rather than the downward, but everyone agrees that copper is not abundantly available.

The world needs large quantities of copper, which was weak due to the existence of short and long-term markets, the CEO said, noting that the Kingdom recognizes the price movement as both oil and minerals have the same price movement.   

Copper is most strategic in investment, while gold is precious, Bristow said, expecting copper prices to range between $7,000 and $8,000 per ton this year, and will likely rise much further in the next two or three years.