Barrick to sell three Australian gold mines

Barrick Gold, the world’s largest gold producer, has put three Western Australian mines up for sale in order to alleviate some of its current $11.6 billion debt burden, reported Reuters on Monday.

Merrill Lych and UBS will advise on the sale of Barrick’s Darlot, Granny Smith, and Lawlers mines, which produced a combined 452 000 oz of gold at $768/oz in 2012.

Barrick has run into recent trouble at its $8.5 billion Pascua Lama project in Chile as a court ordered a halt in production earlier this month.

Two Chinese firms, Zijin Mining and Shandong Gold, have been identified as potential buyers.

 Sources: Reuters; The Globe and Mail