Aurora Acquisition Corp (AURC)

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Barrick Seeking Russian Partner for Gold-Deposit Bid

By Stewart Bailey

March 6 (Bloomberg) -- Barrick Gold Corp., the world's largest gold producer, is seeking a Russian partner for a venture to develop mines in the country and bid for its largest untapped gold deposit.

Barrick would accept a minority stake in a Russian joint venture, Chief Executive Officer Gregory Wilkins said today. The partnership would be used to try to secure rights to the Sukhoi Log gold and silver deposit when it comes up for government auction, he said.

``Russia is not a country we'd want to ignore in the future,'' Wilkins said in an interview at the company's Toronto headquarters.

Wilkins has forecast declining gold production in the next five years as new deposits of the metal become harder to find. Difficulties replacing production with new reserves are driving Barrick and other producers farther from the U.S., Canada and South Africa to riskier and more remote locations in Central Africa, Russia and Papua New Guinea.

After years of delays, the Russian government may sell licenses for Sukhoi this year, Natural Resources Minister Yuri Trutnev said last month. The ministry said in October that Sukhoi may contain 2,956 metric tons of gold and 1,541 tons of silver, about 50 percent more than estimates made by Soviet geologists in the 1970s. The deposit may yield $30 billion in revenue for the developer and cost more than $1.6 billion to develop, the ministry said.

New Mines

Barrick is already investing about $10 billion over the next five years developing new mines in countries including the Dominican Republic, Tanzania and Chile. The expense of developing Russian mining projects, as well as the technical complexity and scale, make partnerships more attractive, Wilkins said.

``We could comfortably work through joint ventures as long as we have the ability to protect our investments and have input into technical decisions and be satisfied with development plans,'' Wilkins said.

Barrick's only exposure to Russia now is a 20 percent share in Jersey, U.K.-based Highland Gold Mining Ltd., the owner of the Mnogovershinnoye mine. While the stake gives Barrick an opportunity to study the Russian gold industry, it's ``not a core holding,'' Wilkins said.

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