Barrick makes a major investment in a copper mine

Article Excerpt

Barrick Gold aims to keep adding to its gold production—but at the same time, it plans to keep acquiring what it sees as world-class copper assets to expand its output. We see the stock as a Power Buy. BARRICK GOLD, $22.66, is a buy. The miner (Toronto symbol ABX; TSINetwork Rating: Average) (www.barrick.com; Shares o/s: 1.8 billion; Market cap: $40.8 billion; Dividend yield: 2.7%) is the second-largest gold producer in the world after Newmont Corp. (symbol NEM on New York). Barrick is now investing almost $2 billion U.S. in an expansion project designed to increase annual production at its Lumwana mine in Zambia to an estimated 240,000 tonnes of copper annually from the current 50 million tonnes. The major investment should place Lumwana in the top tier of global copper producers. The project’s accelerated work program aims to complete the feasibility study by the end of 2024; that would bring completion of the expanded processing plant forward to 2028. The expansion is part of the company’s plans…