Barrick’s CEO Mark Bristow has called for more consolidation in the African gold market. The average mine life across the gold mining sector has fallen from 20 years to closer to 10 years. 

He went on to state that “The prospect of a serious reserve crisis is looming,”. This could be due to the fact that production across the industry has only increased by 1.6% every year for the past two decades. The Barrick CEO then said this week’s deal between Northern Star Resources and Saracen Mineral Holdings was a “great example” of industry consolidation that should be celebrated.

Bristow again signalled Barrick’s appetite for acquiring Freeport-McMoran’s Grasberg mine in Indonesia. It is the world’s biggest gold mine and second-biggest copper mine. He went on to say  “There are not a lot around, and so by deduction of course we remain interested in being able to add to our portfolio any tier 1 asset out there,”

Barrick will release its Q3 2020 results on Thursday, November 5, 2020. The company will again host it’s virtual presentation on the results that day at 11:00 EST, with an interactive webinar linked to a conference call. It will be interesting to see how the higher average gold price impacts the companies earnings. 

Recently the Barrick share price has hit a ceiling of C$41.09 per share. The drop has largely coincided with the consolidation in the price of gold. Maybe the earnings call could provide the bulls with enough to retest the highs. The next major support looks to be a strong one at C$30.45 if the price does take a dive this area could be a sticking point.