Message from the President and CEO

By the start of 2019, we had a clear strategy for building the new Barrick into the world’s most valued mining company. As this Report shows, we have come a long way towards achieving this objective. We now have a global platform with a peerless gold portfolio and rapidly growing copper portfolio. Significantly, it also hosts a number of major growth projects and a wealth of opportunities for further organic expansion.

Our foundational belief that combining the best assets with the best people would yield the best results has produced an industry-leading production profile, backed by a strong balance sheet, as well as exceptional returns to shareholders, a pioneering partnership business model and a sustainability strategy that delivers tangible benefits. Under every heading – asset quality, operational excellence and sustainable profitability – we have now ticked virtually every box on our five-year report card.

The principal differentiator between Barrick and its peers is its unique record of asset base replenishment. Last year we maintained this, increasing our gold reserves to 77 million ounces and replacing 112% of our annual gold equivalent production.Please see pages 141-148 of Barrick’s Annual Report 2023 for corresponding endnotes. Since 2019, we have organically added 29 million ounces of attributable reserves, which, on a 100% basis, represents 44 million ounces of reserve addition across all Barrick-managed mines.Gold equivalent ounces (GEO) from our copper assets are calculated using long-term mineral reserve commodity prices of $1,300/oz gold and $3.00/lb copper. We are also poised to add more gold and copper reserves and substantially expand our copper production profile as the Reko Diq and Lumwana Expansion projects complete their respective feasibility studies by the end of 2024 before moving to construction. Our key growth projects are profiled elsewhere in this Report.

Protecting our people, caring for the environment

The health and safety of our workforce remain a priority and last year we again made progress on what we call our Journey to Zero, posting the best results since the Merger. While both the Lost Time Injury Frequency Rate (LTIFR)Please see pages 141-148 of Barrick’s Annual Report 2023 for corresponding endnotes. and the Total Recordable Injury Rate (TRIFR)Please see pages 141-148 of Barrick’s Annual Report 2023 for corresponding endnotes. continued to come down, this record was sadly tarnished by a number of fatalities. Clearly there is no room for complacency and our focus remains on that Zero goal. The enormous progress made in this regard by our Latin America and Asia Pacific region shows that this is well within our global reach.

Our concern for our people extends to the communities that host our mines. Malaria is by a wide margin Africa’s greatest health scourge. Since 2019 the preventative measures Barrick instituted have decreased the incidence of this disease around our operations by 33%, by gradually eliminating its mosquito-borne transmission.

There were no significant environmental incidents during the year. Our continuing drive to improve our water management has increased the group’s overall re-use and recovery rate to 84%. Our Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas reduction drive delivered a 5% decrease year-on-year and a 15% decrease against our roadmap’s 2018 baseline. In November we published our Scope 3 targets for indirect emissions in our value chain. Major solar power expansion projects at Nevada Gold Mines, Loulo-Gounkoto and Kibali are on track for commissioning this year.

A leader in sustainability

Barrick was the first mining company to publish a comprehensive Sustainability Report with an objective performance scorecard. The 2023 Report will be published in April 2024.

Our commitment to real sustainability has long been the bedrock of our business and it is based on a holistic approach which integrates all aspects of our environmental and community responsibilities, as distinct from the siloed ESG model. Its aim is not only to secure Barrick’s sustainable profitability, but to make sustainability the core of all its activities.

This strategy is based on sharing the benefits of our operations with our stakeholders and is fundamental to our social licence to operate. It includes employing local people (97% of our employees are host country nationals), procuring from local businesses and investing in the social and economic development of local communities. It also encompasses our biodiversity initiatives, such as the reintroduction of white rhinos to the Garamba National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the reclamation and rehabilitation of land.

Barrick’s pioneering partnership philosophy is a key component of its commitment to sustainability. It has already transformed the once-derelict Tanzanian gold mines into a complex with Tier One potential; reconstituted the Reko Diq project in Pakistan and is now developing it into one of the world’s largest copper and gold producers; and after more than three years of negotiation achieved an agreement for the re-opening of the Porgera gold mine in Papua New Guinea.

Strong finish to the year

Barrick had a slow start to the year with operational issues at Nevada Gold Mines and Kibali and commissioning setbacks with Pueblo Viejo’s plant expansion impacting on production. In true Barrick fashion, we kept our focus, dealt with the challenges, progressed our long-term strategic plans and delivered on some of our key objectives. We achieved a steady quarter-on-quarter improvement but despite a particularly good Q4, we fell fractionally short of our gold production guidance. Copper met its guidance.

Highlights of the year were the gold and copper reserve replacement I mentioned earlier and the usual strong performance from our Africa and Middle East region. Our financial results were more than satisfactory, again demonstrating the ability of our asset portfolio to create value, admittedly with the wind of a record gold price at our backs.

The year-on-year operating cash flow increased by 7%, the free cash flow grew by 50% and the adjusted net earnings per share rose by 12%. The performance of the business and the continued strength of our balance sheet, reflected in our investment-grade credit rating, allowed us to maintain a robust dividend to our shareholders in 2023. Subsequent to the year-end, Barrick announced a new $1 billion share buyback program.

The year ahead

There will be some exciting developments in 2024 as we advance our organic growth strategy. In Nevada, which hosts three of our Tier One gold mines, Cortez received the long-awaited Record of Decision for Goldrush just before the end of last year, allowing it to accelerate the development of this project, which is forecast to produce 130,000 ounces of gold in 2024, rising to 400,000 ounces per year by 2028.Please see pages 141-148 of Barrick’s Annual Report 2023 for corresponding endnotes. Far from being a mature destination, this vast area is rich in potential for further world-class discoveries as well as opportunities for reserve replacement and expansion, which we are aggressively pursuing. We are ramping up the drilling and evaluation of the Barrick-owned Fourmile project, adjacent to Goldrush, with a view to starting a prefeasibility study at year-end. Elsewhere Robertson is a particularly significant target, where step-out drilling has confirmed an upside potential which comes with the additional advantage of mostly oxide ore.

In the Dominican Republic, our flagship growth project, the expansion of Pueblo Viejo, is addressing its teething problems and is forecast to get back on track this quarter: to sustain an average annual production in excess of 800,000 ounces over a Life of Mine that will extend beyond 2040.

Our strategic decision to invest in the expansion of our copper portfolio led to the $2 billion Super Pit expansion project at Lumwana in Zambia. This will transform Lumwana into one of the world’s major copper mines, with a projected annual production of 240,000 tonnes over a more than 30-year life.Please see pages 141-148 of Barrick’s Annual Report 2023 for corresponding endnotes. It is scheduled to go into production in 2028, at the same time as the even larger copper-gold Reko Diq project in Pakistan. Together they will promote Barrick into the premier league of copper producers.

The voyage continues

To be world-class you have to be global and Barrick’s presence now extends across all the world’s major gold and copper districts outside Russia and China. This is a solid foundation on which we can grow our production and our value, directed by a proven strategy and supported by the broad spectrum of skills we have developed to build a modern mining business. Discovery and development are the true drivers of value and our strong focus on exploration is evident in our widespread hunt for new discoveries with Tier One potential as well as reserve replenishment opportunities.

The bar chart above shows Barrick’s 10-year gold and production outlook, expressed in gold equivalent ounces.  Our proven ability to replace the ounces of gold and pounds of copper we mine, and the organic growth opportunities embedded in our business give us the confidence to believe that we can deliver on this forecast without dilutionary acquisitions.

We also continue to have a 30% increase in gold equivalent production by the end of this decade in our sights. Importantly, we have the balance sheet strength and operating cash flows to fund this growth while maintaining our industry-leading credit rating. I have no doubt that our strategies and partnerships, together with the quality of our assets and our people, will create real and sustainable long-term value for our shareholders and our stakeholders.

The best people

Our nil premium transactions five years ago equipped the new Barrick with most of the best assets it needed. Our first challenge was to assemble the best people to run them and to provide these teams with the structure and support in which they could flourish. We sought not only technical excellence but shared values: accountability, tenacity, an entrepreneurial spirit and a sense of ownership. As our progress and performance show, we found them. I thank everyone at Barrick for the personal contribution they made to last year’s operating and financial performance.

We continue to identify and groom Barrick’s next generation of leaders, who will be equipped to manage the challenges of a continually changing operating environment. Our local employment policy has given us one of the world’s most diverse workforces in terms of nationality, gender, race and religion. We continue to enhance our employee profile through targeted recruitment and training programs. Led by our Latin American operations, which are having an extraordinary success in this regard, we are attracting more women to our traditionally male-dominated industry.

In conclusion I would like to thank the Board for their wise guidance and scrupulous corporate governance. A particular word of appreciation for John Thornton who has transitioned from his role as Executive Chairman to Chairman. John and I shared the vision that gave birth to the new Barrick and we have worked together productively to make that vision a reality. I look forward to continuing our partnership.

Mark Bristow
President and Chief Executive