Mongolian Resource Play

[Ed Monton]

Barrick takes a pass on Ivanhoe's Mongolia project

Friday July 9, 2:32 pm ET

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, July 9 (Reuters) - Barrick Gold Corp. (Toronto:ABX.TO - News) has decided against any involvement with Ivanhoe Ltd. (Toronto:IVN.TO - News) on its Oyu Tolgoi project, the world's No. 3 gold producer said on Friday after completing a review of the gold and copper deposit in Mongolia.


"We've determined that we are not proceeding any further with it at all," said Barrick spokesman Vince Borg. "We've concluded that the deposit doesn't fit our investment criteria," he said, declining to elaborate.

Barrick said in May that it was taking up Ivanhoe's invitation to review the site, which its owner describes as one of the world's largest undeveloped gold and copper deposits.

Up to a 50 percent stake in the project is expected to be sold, with a large miner, a smelter, a trading house or a combination of the three regarded as possible suitors.

Oyu Tolgoi's size, current high copper and gold prices, a shortage of big mineral finds and potent marketing by Ivanhoe, an exploration firm, have resulted in the project gaining wide publicity.

Market interest was also piqued by Ivanhoe's statement that it had signed 16 confidentiality agreements with international mining companies that had approached it over the find.

Barrick's decision to take a pass on the project follows denials of interest from several of the world's biggest gold and base metals producers. These include world No. 1 and 5 gold producers, Newmont Mining Co. (NYSE:NEM - News) and Placer Dome Inc. (Toronto:PDG.TO - News), as well Rio Tinto Plc. (London:RIO.L - News), the world's second largest diversified mining house.

Large copper producers, Grupo Mexico (Mexico:GMEXICOB.MX - News) and Canada's Noranda Inc. (Toronto:NRD.TO - News) have also said they are not pursuing the project, although Ivanhoe revealed recently that Noranda had last year wanted a 40 percent stake in the find but that Ivanhoe had rejected the deal.

Canada's Teck Cominco Ltd. (Toronto:TEKb.TO - News), the world's biggest zinc producer, as well as a miner of copper and gold, has said it is examining the project.

Various stages of drilling indicates that the deposit could contain more than 30 billion pounds of copper and more than 15 million ounces of gold.