The NGM joint venture (JV) was formed to unlock value by combining Barrick’s and Newmont’s assets in Nevada. This has resulted in extended process facility lifespans, improved ore routing that enhances recovery and reduces costs, and the removal of toll treatment charges, which has lowered costs and improved the cut-off grade at Turquoise Ridge. Additionally, the increased orebody knowledge and expertise gained since the JV’s establishment continues to uncover new resources and exploration opportunities along previously unexplored property boundaries.
The Carlin complex consists of multiple open pit and underground mines and several processing facilities. These include two roasters, an autoclave, and heap leach pads. Carlin rivals any gold complex in the world and with additions to reserves at Leeville (mostly from Miramar), Gold Quarry, and Exodus as well as increases in resources at Leeville (mostly Miramar) and Pete Bajo, high-grade production from the underground operations is expected to continue well into the future. In Q3 2024, the second and final phase of the Gold Quarry roaster expansion was completed and is expected to deliver an additional 20% in throughput with improvements already banked in Q4 2024.
The Cortez complex comprises multiple open pit and underground mines and multiple processing facilities. These include an oxide mill and heap leach pads with refractory material transported to and processed at the Carlin complex. Pouring its first gold over 150 years ago, Cortez is expected to continue producing long into the future through the addition of projects such as Goldrush, Robertson and Fourmile. At Goldrush, the first of two planned ventilation shafts to enable increased mining rates and two underground primary fans were completed in 2024. Initial Horse Canyon surface access development was also completed. Goldrush is expected to be a long-life underground mine with projected annual production of more than 400,000 ounces per annum (100% basis) by 2028x. Reserves and resources at Goldrush continued to grow as we continue to develop underground accesses.
The Turquoise Ridge complex consists of multiple open pit and underground mines as well as an autoclave, oxide mill and heap leach pads. The high-grade Turquoise Ridge underground mine is the value driver of the complex. The third shaft was commissioned in Q4 2022 and is providing additional ventilation for underground mining operations as well as shorter haulage distances. At the Sage autoclave, significant infrastructure investments along with improvements in maintenance practices were made to enhance performance and reliability at higher throughput volumes. Growth for Turquoise Ridge continues at the open pit with the replacement of Cut 40 for Cut 55 in reserves, as well as significant reserve and resource additions at Turquoise Ridge underground.
Completing the NGM portfolio is Phoenix. The copper by- product generated by the mine provides diversification and further cash flow growth from this strategic metal. Growth at Phoenix included the addition of Reona layback to reserves after updating the Tailings Storage Facility Cell 1 design and displacing lower grade material from the plan.
At Hemlo, most underground physicals continued to steadily improve in 2024 and further productivity enhancements remain the key focus over the near term. We continued to advance studies and permitting work for the potential restart of a larger-scale open pit.
Elsewhere in North America, the tailings reprocessing project at Golden Sunlight continues to ramp up. The project progressed slower than planned as we continue to refine the process and flow sheet and full production is now expected in the second half of 2025. The reprocessing of high-sulphide tailings eliminates the need for perpetual water treatment, provides a valuable fuel source for the Carlin roasters and facilitates proper closure.
At Donlin, trade-off studies and analysis of project assumptions, inputs, and design components for optimization (mine engineering, metallurgy, hydrology, power, and infrastructure) continued through 2024.