Barrick Mining Corporation (B), one of the world's largest gold producers, is reportedly considering something fairly dramatic: breaking itself into two separate companies. One would focus entirely on North America, while the other would house everything the company operates across Africa and Asia.
Reuters broke the story, citing four people familiar with internal board discussions. When asked about it, neither a Barrick spokesperson nor interim CEO Mark Hill would play ball, with Hill giving the classic "we don't respond to market speculation" line.
What the Split Could Look Like
According to the rumors, this is still very much in the exploratory phase. But the discussions have apparently gotten specific enough to include options like selling the company's African mines outright, plus potentially divesting the giant Reko Diq copper-gold project in Balochistan once they lock down financing for it.
If this happens, it would essentially be a partial do-over of Barrick's 2019 merger with Randgold Resources, shedding assets that came aboard under former CEO Mark Bristow.
The North America-focused entity would be the crown jewel after restructuring. Its portfolio would include Fourmile, an undeveloped but potentially high-grade gold discovery in Nevada that's scheduled for test production in 2029. Hill has already hinted that this region is where he wants to concentrate efforts.
The Problem Assets
Meanwhile, Barrick's position in some other jurisdictions has gotten messy. The situation in Mali completely deteriorated after the company lost control of the Loulo-Gounkoto complex. The military junta running the country seized the whole operation, including three metric tons of gold, following a prolonged dispute over a revised tax code. Diplomatic efforts went nowhere, and now the future of an asset that produced 723,000 ounces of gold in 2024 is completely up in the air.
Then there's Reko Diq in Pakistan, which presents its own set of challenges. While it's one of the world's largest undeveloped copper-gold deposits, the project sits in a politically sensitive location. The region of Balochistan has dealt with decades of instability, separatism, and persistent questions about federal-provincial alignment. Securing financing was already tricky enough. Throw a potential corporate restructuring into the mix, and you've got even more layers of uncertainty.
Why Now?
Barrick's stock performance has been a mixed bag, and that's probably driving some of this thinking. The shares have absolutely ripped this year, up over 138% year-to-date as record gold prices have offset pretty much every headwind imaginable. But zoom out to the long term, and Barrick has underperformed peers like Newmont Corporation (NEM) and Agnico Eagle Mines Limited (AEM).
A potential split could help the market properly value those world-class North American assets, which might be getting lost in the shuffle right now. It would also shield the company from a possible takeover bid while the leadership figures out what comes next. With an interim CEO at the helm and a search underway for permanent leadership, this could be about giving the board maximum strategic flexibility.
Price Action: B stock was trading lower by 0.03% to $37.05 premarket at last check Monday.
