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