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Barrick Gold Receives Federal Permits & ROD for Donlin Gold

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Barrick Gold Corporation announced that the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (the Corps) have issued a Federal Record of Decision (ROD) for the Donlin Gold project, post the completion of the Federal National Environmental Policy Act process.

The move is a significant milestone for Barrick Gold and its partner - NovaGold Resources Inc. (NG - Free Report) . Both companies can now focus on exploring ways to reduce initial capital and unlock the value of this asset. Additionally, the Corps issued a combined permit under Section 10 of the Rivers and Harbors Act and Section 404 of the Clean Water Act. The BLM also issued the Offer to Lease for the right-of-way for portions of the natural gas pipeline that will traverse through federal lands.

Donlin Gold, located in Alaska, is one of the largest and highest grade undeveloped open pit gold resources that is positioned to benefit from rising gold prices. It has the potential to produce more than one million ounces of gold per annum over a 27-year mine life on a 100% basis. The Alaska-based Donlin Gold LLC is equally owned by Barrick Gold and NovaGold through their subsidiaries Barrick Gold U.S. Inc. and NovaGold Resources Alaska, Inc., respectively.  

Barrick Gold, which is among the prominent gold miners along with Newmont Mining Corporation (NEM - Free Report) and Goldcorp , reported adjusted earnings of 7 cents per share in second-quarter 2018. However, the figure missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 12 cents.

Revenues fell roughly 20.7% year over year to $1,712 million in the quarter but beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1,661.1 million.

Total gold production went down roughly 25.5% to 1.07 million ounces in the quarter. Per the company, gold production was affected by scheduled maintenance shutdowns at the Pueblo Viejo and Barrick Nevada roaster autoclaves along with lower grade and recovery at the Barrick Nevada oxide mill.

However, Barrick Gold continues to anticipate gold production in the range of 4.5-5 million ounces at AISC of $765-$815 per ounce and cost of sales of $810-$850 per ounce for 2018. Moreover, the company expects gold production in the third quarter of 2018 to be around 1.2 million ounces. It expects third quarter throughput to be in line with the second-quarter as it completes the two scheduled autoclaves maintenance shutdowns for 2018.

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