Barrick’s strategy is to:
- Consolidate and secure dominant land positions in its favored operating districts and expand beyond current jurisdictions into emerging new prospective geological domains.
- Focus on economically feasible Tier One discoveries.
- Collaborate closely with Mineral Resource Managers to optimize and deliver value from existing orebodies and mining operations.
- Establish and develop motivated and highly agile discovery driven teams.
Barrick’s exploration portfolio is managed through the resource triangle. Projects must pass a set of filters to advance, otherwise they are eliminated. Barrick aims to ensure it is continually replenishing the resource triangle at all stages and keeping it balanced.
The company is already in many of the world’s most prospective gold districts, but it continues to look for emerging new gold districts wherever they may be.
The first half of 2019, in many instances, was spent focused on improving Barrick’s mine geological databases, borehole logging as well as geological and grade control models. This has laid the foundations for improved geology models which are critical for more reliable resource models to help optimize mine planning. Barrick is now well placed to resume investing in its future through focused greenfields exploration, driven by the clear understanding that it is exploration that ultimately drives the company’s value chain.
Barrick has active reconnaissance teams scouting for new Tier One opportunities in Canada, the Guiana Shield, and more recently in Japan and Tanzania. Its teams conduct close surveillance of competitor activity to identify emerging new discoveries and projects where the full potential to yield a discovery has not yet been realized.
The relationship and integration with the company’s unique mineral resource management (MRM) model as a core part of its operating culture, introduces responsible and sustainable stewardship of its valuable orebodies to optimize and deliver that value. Every site has an exploration and MRM lead who work together to ensure Barrick updates and improves its geological models and look to immediate opportunities to identify brownfields potential for resource and ultimately, reserve additions. Over the past year, the company appointed new leaders that embrace its values and culture at all sites.
North America
The Nevada Gold Mines joint venture controls more than two million acres surrounding the mines. A reinvigorated exploration effort targeting the newly consolidated land holdings is well timed to leverage experience and skills honed at Fourmile, the latest in a string of high-grade and concealed deposits discovered within the Cortez district.
Teams of discovery-driven explorers have been established or reinforced at the three main mining centres. Unifying geology models of the newly consolidated mining districts is a top priority to ensure a solid geological foundation for target delineation and testing and will carry forward to all aspects of the value chain following discovery. The models reflect extensive data sets from decades of diligent field work and interpretation. Multiple walk-up drill targets have been identified in addition to highlighting extensive areas of prospective stratigraphy and geological features with little to no drilling. Barrick is confident that the JV will continue to extend mine life and make meaningful new discoveries in the years to come.
At Fourmile, geological modeling became progressively more sophisticated as drilling advanced and the controls to mineralization were understood. An improved understanding of the vectors to mineralization means targeting is becoming increasingly predictive, and therefore will lead to the next discovery faster.
During 2019, the inferred resource at Fourmile increased by over 170% to 1.9Moz. Targeting a projected structural intersection delivered a new discovery more than 1km from the resource and that discovery was validated with another exceptional high-grade hole.
The Carlin Trend remains a target rich environment. The 2019 program focused on merging massive datasets in support of geological modeling. Drilling was initiated to test highly ranked target concepts as well as establish a geological framework in priority areas lacking drill information. Looking forward, the Carlin Trend will become the most active exploration area in Barrick’s portfolio.
At Turquoise Ridge, unification of the district geology was the focus following consolidation of the mining camp. The work to date has successfully closed knowledge gaps between Turquoise Ridge and Twin Creeks. As with other districts, targets will be identified from high quality geological modeling to maximize the opportunity for success.