Modern Mining February 2019

EVENTS

political risk, environmental compliance and the management of closure liability. He told his audience that Barrick was mainly interested in Tier 1 and Tier 2 projects. He defined Tier 1 projects as those having a reserve potential of greater than 5 Moz of gold and at least an IRR of 15 % at the long-term gold price with the equiv- alent figures for Tier 2 being a reserve potential of greater than 3 Moz and an IRR of least 20 %. While virtually all the world’s majors involved in mining in Africa were present at the Mining Indaba, junior miners were also well catered for and well represented, with a highlight once again being the Investment Battlefield competition, now in its third year, designed to support and promote the junior mining industry across Africa. Prospect Resources, a company listed on the ASX, emerged as the winner of the competition for its Arcadia lithium project located on the outskirts of Harare in Zimbabwe. Executive Director Harry Greaves accepted the award after pitching the project to a panel of judges made up of 25 leading analysts and investors. “The Arcadia lithium project repre- sents Prospect’s flagship project,” he said. “It is one of two mines in the world which can

gave a Main Stage presentation entitled ‘Barrick – The new value champion in the gold indus- try’ while Friedland focused in particular on the highly impressive Kamoa-Kakula copper project near Kolwezi in the DRC (which is cov- ered on page 26 of this issue). Bristow, of course, is one of the towering personalities of mining in Africa and looks set to play a similar role on the global mining stage. Certainly, he has wasted no time in get- ting to grips with the enlarged Barrick, having already visited most of the group’s operations in the Americas, despite the merger being only weeks old. In his presentation, he criticised the short-term mindset of the mining industry, argued the case for value creation over the long- term and stressed the importance of investing in people, partners and host countries for the benefit of all stakeholders, as had been done by Randgold over many years. Discussing Barrick’s strategic filters for investment, he said deposits and projects needed to be located in world-class geologi- cal districts and in jurisdictions where Barrick would have the right to mine and repatri- ate profits. He said projects also had to fit Barrick’s values with respect to social licence,

Harry Greaves, Executive Director of Prospect Resources, presents on the Arcadia lithium project in Zimbabwe. Prospect was the winner of the Investment Battlefield competition.

February 2019  MODERN MINING  37