Letter from the Chairman

We are in a period of unprecedented disruption and uncertainty: geopolitical instability, violent conflict, trade wars, inflation, climate change, biodiversity loss, the threat of avian flu, the explosive growth of AI, and more.

Never has gold seemed so attractive and important as an enduring source of value. It should not surprise that its price has been reaching all-time highs.

At Barrick, we do not forget the painful lessons of the last bull market for gold. As your fellow owners, we remain disciplined and focused-obsessed with execution and with rigorous asset allocation that will continue to grow free cash flow per share over the long term.

Last year, we achieved the goals we set out to you. We increased profitability, free cash flow, and mineral reserves. We produced over 3.9 million ounces of gold (on an attributable basis), as we guided. We continued our relentless pursuit of operational excellence.

As ever, we continued to invest in our host communities, protect the health and safety of our people, and safeguard local habitats. We maintained a sterling balance sheet, with substantial liquidity and debt net of cash close to zero. Our diversified portfolio of Tier One assets continued to produce free cash flow. Considering the undervalued share price, we bought back $500 million of shares. We increased per-share returns even as we moved forward on many important growth projects.

Those projects put us on track to grow the company while increasing per-share returns over the long term. We completed feasibility studies for the Reko Diq and Lumwana Expansion projects. The company will soon be a major copper producer: Reko Diq is one of the largest undeveloped copper-gold deposits, while Lumwana will become one of the world’s major copper mines.

We also moved forward on the expansion of Pueblo Viejo. Investments in these projects will amount to more than $10 billion. We expect them to increase Barrick’s gold equivalent production by 30% by the end of the decade.

The Environmental, Social, Governance & Nominating Committee rigorously assessed our current Board, defined the gaps we need to fill, and identified and evaluated appropriate roles.

As part of this review, we appointed new chairs for our three standing committees: Isela Constantini for Compensation, Brian Greenspun for ESGN, and Loreto Silva for Audit & Risk. While we are pleased that two of our three committees are now chaired by women, we believe we are never finished the work of adding to our Board’s diversity in every sense and dimension of the word. Many different kinds of people make for more and better ideas, livelier debate, and stronger outcomes.

It is a privilege to work tirelessly on behalf of you, our fellow owners, to deliver peerless per-share returns on the resources you entrust to us.

Sincerely yours,

John L Thornton
Chairman