Integration of Assets, Investment in Future Secure NGM’s Status as Industry Leader

ELKO, Nev., Oct. 25, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Nevada Gold Mines (NGM) is demonstrating the impact of operator and majority-owner Barrick’s strategy of combining the best people with the best assets to deliver the best returns, Barrick president and chief executive Mark Bristow said here today.

Speaking at an update for local media and community leaders, Bristow said NGM — the world’s largest gold mining complex — stood out from the rest of the industry not only because of its size but because its wealth of projects and prospects secure its future as a high-quality, long-life operation for decades to come.

“The combination of the Nevada assets of Barrick and Newmont has unlocked the vast geological potential of this mineral-rich region by consolidating mines, processing facilities and landholdings. Anchored by the massive Carlin and Cortez mines, NGM is building up the third Tier One¹ asset, Turquoise Ridge, while Goldrush, a world-class project in its own right, heads up a long pipeline of quality prospects,” he said.

“NGM has also built strong relations across the full spectrum of the mines’ previously neglected stakeholders, and its wide-ranging support for educational and other community development initiatives is securing its social licence as a valuable partner with Nevada and its people.”

Bristow cited Turquoise Ridge as an example of the transformative effect of asset consolidation. The high-grade underground orebody at Turquoise Ridge, then a Barrick property, was mined for years without a full understanding of its geology and was also constrained by the lack of its own processing plant. At the same time, Newmont’s neighboring Twin Creeks was facing the decline of production from its open pits and its processing facilities had never been pushed to deliver. The ramp-up of underground production at Turquoise Ridge, based on a completely new geological model, will pick up speed when its third shaft is completed next year, more than offsetting the drop in production from the now-integrated Twin Creeks. The integration of the two assets has also delivered new exploration opportunities in the gap between the two.

During the past quarter, the Goldrush project’s official Notice of Intent was published, putting NGM well on the way to permitting its next major orebody. The updated feasibility study and the successful processing of the first ore samples has strengthened confidence that additional resources will be converted to reserves later this year.