Barrick Mining - Earnings Call - Q1 2025
May 7, 2025
Transcript
Operator (participant)
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. This is the event operator. Welcome to Barrick's results presentation for the first quarter of 2025. Following today's presentation, a question-and-answer session will be conducted. If you have a question and are joining the event by telephone, please press the star key, star then one on your telephone keypad. You will be taking questions from the room first. As a reminder, this event is being recorded, and a replay will be available on Barrick's website later today, May the 7th, 2025. I would now like to turn you over to Mark Bristow, President and CEO of Barrick. Please go ahead, sir.
Mark Bristow (President and CEO)
Thank you very much, and good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and particularly the folk that have made an effort to get here this morning. Thank you for joining us today. There is a lot happening, as you are well aware, in the world right now: volatility, instability, and shifting global priorities. Our philosophy at Barrick has never been to manage our business for the short term. While we are always ready to take advantage of high gold prices, we remain focused on building a business that can deliver sustainable profitability over the long term through the cycles, through challenges, and through change. Just over six years ago, we set out to reposition and rebuild Barrick as the world's most valued gold and copper mining company, one that creates real long-term value, not just for investors, but for every stakeholder we work with.
This past quarter was another busy one as we continued on that journey. You'll see today how we've progressed across every part of the business, from operations and growth to sustainability and exploration. As part of this journey, we've also taken the step to change our name to Barrick Mining Corporation, and our ticker on the New York Stock Exchange to the single letter B. It's a symbolic but important shift that reflects our strategic focus on a portfolio of long-life gold assets supported by a growing copper business. Before we begin, as usual, I'd like to draw your attention to the customary cautionary statement regarding forward-looking information. You can find the full details on our website, which you can review at your leisure if you so wish.
Moving now to the group highlights, I'm pleased to show you another positive set of results, with all the arrows once again pointing in the right direction. Production was up at the top of the guidance, and we continue to forecast improvements throughout the year. We have maintained the dividend at CAD 0.10 per share, reduced debt, and continued with our share buyback program. We've also announced the CAD 1 billion sale of Donlin, the first step in rationalizing our portfolio to focus squarely on our tier one assets. Across the business, our growth projects continue to gain momentum, with Pueblo Viejo ramping up, Fourmile moving to pre-feasibility, Le Moyne and Reko Diq moving to construction, and a new discovery already within the Reko Diq mining lease.
Turning to our operational results during the quarter, we completed significant projects at Pueblo Viejo, Nevada Gold Mines, and Le Moyne, positioning us well for the rest of the year and beyond. Copper had a great quarter, and we remain on track to meet our full-year production targets for both gold and copper. Looking at the financial results, by all measures, this was a solid quarter, reflecting the strength and resilience of the business we have built. On a year-on-year basis, despite the temporary shutdown of Loulo-Gounkoto and the previously mentioned maintenance work, we delivered significant growth in operating cash flow, free cash flow, and earnings, all supported by a higher gold price, of course. I'll point you to our realized gold price in quarter one, which already looks conservative given where the spot price is today.
Capital is tracking in line with our plans, with growth capital expected to increase over the year as our two major construction projects ramp up their activity. Sustainability, as I'm sure you're all aware by now, remains the cornerstone of how we operate. It's not separate from our business; it is our business. Mining must leave at least a lasting positive impact, and that's what we strive for across every one of our sites. This quarter, we made strong progress on our journey to zero, with a big focus on managing by walking about. We completed over 31,000 critical control verifications across the group, reinforcing leadership visibility and real-time risk management. We recorded improvements in the loss time injury frequency rate and total recordable injury frequency rate. No class one or two environmental incidents, and very importantly, our class three events were down materially.
Our water use efficiency remains above 80%, keeping us at the forefront of the industry. At Reykjavik, we secured environmental permits, and both the Asian Development Bank and the International Finance Corporation have publicly disclosed their intended participation in Reykjavik financing. At PV, the first families have moved into new homes under our resettlement program, which is guided by the IFC Performance Standard Five. We've also rolled out our social metric tracker aligned to the UN Sustainable Development Goals to track real impact at the site level. Moving to North America and our operations there, this remains Barrick's value foundation and continues to perform steadily. We've taken clear steps this quarter to sharpen our portfolio. As I indicated already, Donlin sale is an important move aligned with our strategy to focus on tier one assets.
In line with that, we have also launched a process to test the market for Hemlo. Let me be clear to everyone here today, particularly, this has no bearing on our commitment to Canada. On the contrary, we've launched a significant drill program in the southern Abitibi, which I will discuss later. We are also exploring in the U.S., in Nevada, both within the joint venture and on Barrick ground, as well as in Arizona, Idaho, and Montana. These programs target both gold and copper and form a core part of our organic growth strategy, as again, I will touch on a little later. In line with our investment in people, we've now rolled out the Barrick Academy at Nevada Gold Mines, giving frontline leaders the tools to drive performance, improve safety, and build operational excellence.
Turning to Nevada Gold Mines specifically, we had a solid quarter, although production was lower on the back of planned roaster maintenance at Carlin. Importantly, we are starting to see real efficiency gains from the new Komatsu open pit fleet and organizational optimization, which is already driving mining unit costs back down to levels we have not seen since 2022. At Cortez, production was lower quarter on quarter due to fewer high-grade underground tons and lower-grade open pit ore stacked on the leach pads. At Turquoise Ridge, throughput increased quarter on quarter at the Sage Autoclave, though lower grades offset the volume gains. Still, recovery performance was strong, helping support overall results. During April, we also completed the planned Gold Quarry roaster shutdown. With the major maintenance behind us in Nevada Gold Mines, we are well set for an improved quarter two and a better second half.
Moving to Fourmile, this is one of the most exciting projects, as I've mentioned before, in our portfolio. We currently have 16 rigs turning with drill holes averaging over 1 kilometer in depth. As we've already disclosed, grades at Fourmile are more than double those at Goldrush, and early geotechnical data points to more competent rock strength, which can potentially support larger scale stoping than that of our other Nevada operations. Combined with its proximity to existing infrastructure, this makes Fourmile a clear standout. We've now advanced the project into feasibility study with a focus on defining the full resource footprint and evaluating the geometrical metallurgy of the ore body and access options, all of which are critical for future development. We've already submitted the plan of operations for the potential portal disturbance and commenced with baseline studies for permitting, so this work is well underway.
When you consider the potential size and quality of the ore bodies located in a jurisdiction with multiple Tier One assets, it's clear that Fourmile has the potential to deliver unparalleled value for Barrick and Nevada. It also explains why we chose to divest Donlin, an asset that was not in a position to compete with Fourmile for capital in our portfolio. Canada, as I said earlier, remains a core destination for us, and we're fully committed to growing our presence here. As you can imagine, it's a highly competitive environment, especially with the recent uplift in gold prices. We are focused on building a high-quality portfolio of targets that can support long-term value. We've just recently kicked off a drilling project at Norris, making a significant step in rebuilding our exploration pipeline in the region and continue to progress and evaluate other project opportunities.
We're also busy with the permitting for the next drill phase at the Sturgeon Lake project. Shifting to Latin America and Asia Pacific, we've seen stellar performance across the board this quarter. Our signature growth project, Pueblo Viejo, made solid progress. Reykjavik, as I mentioned earlier, has officially moved into construction phase and is already showing an exciting early indicator of upside that comes with tier one assets. Veladero delivered a standout performance yet again, and development of phase 8a of the leach pad is on track, and the mine is set up for another strong year. At Porgera, the ramp-up continues, and the operation commenced dividend payments this quarter. Moving specifically to Pueblo Viejo, this is a long-life operation with a planned mine life of over 20 years. Once the ramp-up is complete, we're targeting production of more than 800,000 ounces a year.
The plant was down for 35 days during the past quarter as we completed a series of upgrades. These included improvements to the flash recycle system, DSLAM pump upgrades, and a complete overhaul of the thickener center well. As expected, gold production was lower quarter on quarter, but we saw improvement in throughput in April. The team continues to make good progress under our Go for Gold plan. We are on track to meet guidance this year, and our target is to produce more than 800,000 ounces in 2026. This slide shows the key components of our expansion and ramp-up program at Pueblo Viejo. As you can see, we are on track, and all major projects for the quarter were completed as planned. We remain confident that this expansion will unlock the full long-term potential of this asset.
As part of the Pueblo Viejo expansion, we're developing the El Naranjo tailing storage facility, which requires the relocation of nearby communities. As already mentioned, we are following IFC Performance Standard Five to guide this process, and we're committed to ensuring that people are better off as a result of the relocation. The first 18 families have already moved into their new homes, and we're relocating more families every week. The new community, which we call New Horizons in Spanish, is a fully self-contained development that includes housing, schools, recreational facilities, potable water, electricity, roads, and space for vegetable gardens and farming. To date, 220 houses have been complete, with a total of over 550 to be finished by the end of the year as the development continues on schedule. At Reykjavik, this project is really taking shape now.
You can see on the top right of the slide a model of what the project will look like, and it's all systems go. We've begun mobilizing the first heavy equipment, and we've appointed Fluor as our lead engineering, procurement, and construction management partner, working alongside the internal owners team and other partners. This is a world-class copper gold project that will deliver enormous value, not just for Barrick, but equally for our partners in Pakistan and particularly in Balochistan. It's one of the largest undeveloped porphyry copper gold systems in the world, and it's not yet reflected in our share price. While the total phase I and II investment is expected to be around CAD 10 billion, our share of the total equity contribution is estimated between CAD 1.4 and CAD 1.7 billion for phase I, excluding capitalized financing costs.
At this stage, everything indicates that we'll be able to fund phase II through the project itself. It's important to understand that this is very much in line with how we've approached our early stage investments in countries like originally Mali, way back in the 1990s, and the DRC more recently. Disciplined, not betting the farm, phased, and with strong partnerships forged ahead of construction. On the last point, we have invested roughly CAD 230 million to date with our partners in Pakistan, participating equally alongside us, as disclosed in our financials for everyone tracking this progress. While the Reykjavik feasibility study has defined a 37-year reserve life, and it's important to understand this is a reserve life rather than a life of mine estimate, and the real story is the potential to go well beyond that out to the end of the century.
This slide shows that even before we've started production, we are already adding life and value. One of the first new discoveries within the mining lease is just 4 km north of the western porphyries, which is the main ore body that we've got in our life of mine reserve plan. It's called Bukit Pasir, and it's a clear indication of the quality and prospectivity of this region. The first few holes are delivering thick intervals of mineralization from surface, and the numbers speak for themselves. In our Africa and Middle East region that has been a major value contributor to Barrick over the past two decades, we're seeing some challenges in the broader environment. Africa remains, however, a highly prospective and a good destination to add value to our portfolio.
It's one of the few regions in the world where we consistently replace what we mine, and we expect the trend to continue this year. In Mali, operations at Loulo-Gounkoto remain suspended, but as disclosed in our previous press releases, we continue our engagement with the transitional government and are working hard to overcome these challenges and achieve a long-term solution that puts an end to the current impasse. This has been a cornerstone asset for the country, and we are committed to finding a constructive way forward. On the copper side, Lumwana has now officially transitioned into the construction phase of its expansion project, and Jabal Sayid delivered a strong quarter, maintaining its momentum. At Kibali, production was lower this quarter, mainly due to lower ore grades from underground, as scheduled in the mine plan.
We expect throughput to improve over the course of the year, with a stronger second half in line with our guidance. We also have advanced work on the solar power installation, which again will reduce energy costs and further support our sustainability goals. Importantly, Kibali has a track record of replacing the reserves at mines, and this year is no different. Also worth noting, Kibali is trialing a fleet of EV trucks for rehandling material on the Rompad. This slide zooms in on the ARK-KCD corridor, and it is worth emphasizing just how important this work is to the future of Kibali. The team has made great progress not only extending the main KCD ore body down plunge, but also on the adjacent ARK target, which is a significant brownfields growth opportunity.
We're seeing high-grade intercepts with encouraging continuity, and this work is starting to build a coherent geological model across the corridor. The key question we are now testing is whether ARK and KCD connect. If that's the case, it could represent a material extension of the mineralized system and unlock meaningful new answers from within the existing footprint. In Tanzania, both North Mara and Bulyanhulu had solid quarters, delivering in line with plan. There was some commissioning activity and lower grades at North Mara, as scheduled in the mining sequence, but recoveries and efficiencies remain strong, and both sites are on track to meet full year guidance. Since 2020, we have built trust, stabilized the operations, and restored Barrick's reputation as a long-term partner in the country. It's a powerful example of how responsible mining, done right, can rebuild a business and create lasting value for all stakeholders.
Turning to Lumwana and Zambia, Q1 production reflected a planned mill reline and lower grades, as noted in our guidance. We expect performance to improve in Q2 and strengthen further in the second half as these temporary factors roll off. The super project will double production and is expected to come online in 2028. One of the key focus areas is power infrastructure, as you can imagine, and we're actively working to ensure we can manage this challenge as the expansion ramps up. The scale and value of Lumwana and the expansion in particular are still not, like Reko Diq, reflected in our share price, and we believe this project will be a major value driver for the group in the years ahead. Africa and the Middle East continues to be one of our most prospective regions, and this slide highlights the breadth of our exploration footprint across the continent.
We've consistently delivered value here through exploration, development, and partnerships, and we're well positioned to do so again. We're actively exploring across the Central African Copper Belt, including new permit areas in Zambia and the DRC, as well as advancing greenfield work in Tanzania, Senegal, and through our joint venture with Marden in Saudi Arabia. I have always said that the foundation of a real mining company lies in its reserve base, and this slide brings that into sharp focus. On the left, you can see the growth in our gold reserves per share since the merger, and on the right, the gold equivalent reserve base, again per share, which now includes a material increase in copper and reflects the strength of our broader resource portfolio. We're proud that Barrick continues to lead the industry in replacing and growing reserves through the drill bit and not through overpriced M&A.
Since the merger, we've added 111 million gold equivalent ounces of reserves at a cost of just CAD 10 per gold equivalent ounce, compared to M&A deals in the sector averaging over CAD 440 per ounce and in some cases more than double that. It's a disciplined strategy that underpins our growth plans and reinforces the long-term value of our business. Ladies and gentlemen, as we wrap up, it's worth highlighting something that really sets Barrick apart in the mining industry: its ability to present a long-term rolling business plan. This isn't common in our sector. Most companies can only talk in one to three-year snapshots, but at Barrick, we give our shareholders a clear roadmap, a long-term view of how we intend to deliver production, profitability, and growth. The visibility gives us confidence because it allows us to plan, prioritize, and manage our portfolio in a disciplined way.
We're also shown that over time, our ability to replace the gold and copper we mine while finding more keeps changing that forward profile for the better. We are driven by a strategy that invests in the future, and as you can see here, there's significant organic growth built into the portfolio through to the end of the decade, and as we've shown in our ten-year plan, more beyond that. Look at what we already have. Nevada Gold Mines, Pueblo Viejo, the tier one assets in Africa, all with tangible brownfields upside. Add to that Fourmile, the Lumwana expansion, and the Reko Diq growth project, plus the new project pipeline our exploration team is pursuing, and you begin to see just how much potential is still ahead of us. This is a high-quality portfolio built by a high-quality team operating in some of the world's most prospective regions.
Barrick is, as it stands, a standout performer in our industry. It isn't just the quality of our assets or the strength of our pipeline. It is the way we build this company on a strategy grounded in long-life, tier one assets supported by a growing copper portfolio, exceptional growth assets that do not require new debt or share dilution, a disciplined balance sheet, continuous reserve replacement, and a global exploration engine that is active in every major mineral belt. It is also about our people. We have invested in our leaders, our teams, and our culture, and that is why we are able to operate in the world's most prospective, but sometimes more challenging jurisdictions, and do so successfully, I might add, and sustainably.
We're delivering returns today whilst also building this business for the long term, and we're focused on delivering value for all our stakeholders, not just in ounces or earnings, but in jobs, in partnerships, and in opportunity. Importantly, we've done all this without issuing new equity. On the contrary, we continue to buy back our shares while investing in growth and strengthening the balance sheet. That's the Barrick difference, and that's why we believe the best is yet to come. Thank you all for listening, and we'd be happy to take questions. I think, Claudia, we're going to take from here first. Okay.
Ralph Profiti (Managing Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst of Metals & Mining Equity Research Group)
Thanks, Mark. This is Ralph Profiti from Stifel. Thanks for taking my questions. First one, you had talked about one of the rationales for the sale of Donlin being competing for capital against Fourmile.
I'm wondering if there's a read-through on the valuation and how it pertains to Fourmile because there is a valuation and a market valuation anchor to how you're going to bring Fourmile into Nevada Gold Mines, and I'm wondering if there's a correlation between the two on valuation.
Mark Bristow (President and CEO)
No, I think there's no correlation between the two. I think Donlin is way out of the money, and when you look at our development plans, it was way back at the back end of our development planning, and so it makes sense to realize that asset and focus on the assets that meet our tier one definitions, and that's really the driver.
We saw the value of Donlin in the market is well set by the NovaGold at the stage of the deal, the NovaGold market cap, so that was as close as we could get to a market-related value, and we were comfortable with that.
Ralph Profiti (Managing Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst of Metals & Mining Equity Research Group)
Okay. Thanks, Mark.
Mark Bristow (President and CEO)
Clearly, so was NovaGold, so.
Ralph Profiti (Managing Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst of Metals & Mining Equity Research Group)
Understood. Thank you. You did a presentation slide on Kibali and having some of the more new geology point you to more complex geological structures, and I am just wondering how you are now thinking about perhaps changes to the processing side in order to bring that long-term potential into the fold.
Mark Bristow (President and CEO)
Yeah, Kibali has got a really good flow sheet.
It's got, first of all, the normal standard gold crushing, milling, but then it's got flotation and it's got ultra-fine grind, so short of any roasters or autoclaves, which we don't need in that mine, it's got everything. We don't see any change in the metallurgy of the new deposits. What's interesting is the ARK, so KCD is the first major ore body that we started in open pit, and it's now being mined down dip. It's a plunging series of cigar-shaped ore bodies, and the reason they're in cigars is because it's tightly folded, so the mineralization picks out the hinges in the folds. ARK is starting to look exactly like that, just sub-parallel, so no difference.
It's associated with banded iron formations that are tightly folded, but the system is, and we started to see significant continuity and some particularly high grades because that 3,000 load, 5,000 load of KCD is what made Kibali. It is a completely new target, but right next door, and the question is, is it part of the same tectonic or structural event as well as a mineralization event, or is it separate? We think it's the former, but it's very different to the other satellite deposits that we've mined in Kibali, and we've still got more, and that's further away from the processing plant and the main mine. It is not complicated.
It's complicated geologically, and Kibali's always been a challenging geological setting, but we've continued, as you know, to—we've got double the reserves that we defined in the first feasibility study still, and we've mined for a long time already.
Brian MacArthur (Managing Director)
Good morning, Mark. Brian McArthur, Raymond James. One of the things you highlighted in the report was how you're getting value at tailings with sulfur to be used in Nevada, and obviously, there's a huge benefit from sustainability, but can you just talk about the economics and how that helps the roasters in Nevada and just how much it might actually be worth if you're willing to put a number on that?
Mark Bristow (President and CEO)
The value is significant. Just to—we've got two projects like this. It's Gold and Sunlight, which is a closure site in Montana, and that's been—we're busy ramping that up.
It's had a few challenges in getting it fully ramped up, but it's a rehabilitation project, essentially taking away the requirement for continuous water treatment and at the same time delivering a very valuable product in the form of sulfide concentrate, which is a fuel for our autoclaves and our roasters. With that knowledge, the team in Nevada out of Phoenix looked at our tailings again full of sulfide, and we did the feasibility study, and we built a concentrator in Phoenix, and that's going to produce more than Gold and Sunlight. Not enough to cover all the requirements, but still very significant, and pool sulfur is very expensive. We get rid of an environmental challenge, and we deliver low-cost fuel for our roasters and autoclaves. I mean, Henri, have you got a view of the benefit?
Maybe a cost of the pool relative to your production cost or something.
Henri Gonin (Managing Director of Nevada Gold Mines)
The cost of the pool is variable, but right now we pay about CAD 300 a ton for a ton of sulfur, and we're producing the sulfur concentrate at Phoenix for under-delivered to the roasters for under CAD 70 a ton.
Brian MacArthur (Managing Director)
Okay. So there's the numbers. Sorry, can I just follow up and ask or begs the question, are there other tailings around at other sites in Nevada that you can do this with to add value over time? I get it, Phoenix at a different stage than some of the others, but I was just curious.
Mark Bristow (President and CEO)
No, I think there's—I mean, one of the things just to twist your question a little bit further is what we are looking at is Nevada's multiple different ore bodies and big tailings facilities, and what we are doing is the geology project of looking at what other metals are in those tailings, particularly rare earths and some of the more critical minor elements that you do not find geologically on their own. That is something, and certainly we are very comfortable in being able to reprocess our tailings dams. If you remember Marilla, we mined that super high ore body at the end of the mine. We remine the tailings dam and continue to make money all the way until we had no more anything left in the tailings dam. We have done that before, and we constantly look at opportunities to realize that.
Our big challenge in the mining industry at large is we need to worry more about how we deposit our tailings and in what form because historically the mining industry created large liabilities because of continuous water treatment requirements, and the same goes for copper facilities as well. So we're very aware of that, and our closure team is very focused on where we can exploit those hidden gems inside the tailings dam. We will take them out.
Brian MacArthur (Managing Director)
Thank you.
Mark Bristow (President and CEO)
Is that it? Let's move to the call.
Operator (participant)
Certainly. To join the question queue, you may press star then one on your telephone keypad. You'll hear a tone acknowledging your request. If you're using a speakerphone, please pick up your handset before pressing any keys. To withdraw your question, please press star then two. Our first question is from Josh Wolfson with RBC Capital Markets. Please go ahead.
Josh Wolfson (Head of Global Mining Research)
Thanks.There's a lot of interesting headlines creating some conversations today, and I just want to sort of clarify what the company's views are on some items. The first question I had was, I think, Mark, you made some comments about gold-related M&A here at the top of the cycle being a risk. I just wanted to sort of maybe pivot on the other side. On the copper side for M&A, would you see there being any cyclical advantage to looking at opportunities today given where gold prices are relative to copper? Thanks.
Mark Bristow (President and CEO)
Yeah. Josh, that's a very good question. The challenge we have in copper, the opportunity that's driving very much like 2011, is this perception that the gold price is just going to keep going up. I think from my point of view, there's definitely a base developing in the gold industry because, one, there's a demand.
You can't see any short-term fixes in the global economy, so there's a lot of reason, and de-dollarization has become a reality. At the same time, we have just recently started to see a higher volatility in the gold price, and you would expect that for a while, and whether it stabilizes and sets a new base there or it builds a foundation and continues to grow, that's the gazillion-dollar question. I think the drivers in the market are very much entrenched, and superficially, the sort of geopolitical dynamics across the globe are accentuating that, but there's a fundamental concern around indebtedness across the entire global economy. On the copper side, it's slightly different in that, and so sorry, just to finish on gold, so rising gold prices make ore bodies look more profitable or viable.
At the same time, people forget about costs and cost inflation and ultimately running out of reserves, and that's where our industry is today, is that we've got very little inventory left ahead of us. We are constantly buying assets that just a year and a half ago were not viable and paying a premium for them. On the copper side, the challenge in copper has been that the inventory sitting in particularly the large copper miners as well as the diversified miners are of such a nature that they are not viable, certainly have not been viable at the CAD 4.20-$4.50 a pound copper price.
You have this inventory, but you have no investments in capital, and in fact, what you have seen is the copper industry investing in brownfields extensions, accepting higher operating costs because they can bring that copper production in quickly and at lower capital, or what people talk about today as lower capital intensity. In other words, thousands of dollars per producing ton or produced ton. The challenge is that, again, we have not been exploring, and the supply side of that inventory is not forthcoming, and you need a higher copper price to really unlock it, and you need a copper price that goes high enough for the industry to be comfortable it will stay there because building a copper mine takes time.
That's what makes Le Moina and Reko Diq such a standout set of assets because it makes real returns at CAD 3 copper, and it can comfortably carry the capital requirements to do so. Le Moina particularly has got a cash flow adjacent to the second stream that we're building. What's interesting unlike gold is that recently, despite the global economic outlook, which is very fuzzy at the moment, the copper price has shown some strength. That's interesting because we've all recognized, all of us, particularly you analysts, have recognized that there's a tightening coming in the supply side, and to see this move in copper against a softening, unsure global economy is very interesting for us.
When we made the decision and took our capital plans to our board and shared it with our colleagues in Pakistan, we pointed to the fact that this is the best time to build copper mines if they are viable at the sort of lower copper prices because you bring the production in at a time when demand picks up. Josh, this is probably a little bit before your time, but that's how we built Randgold, we took that big bet when gold was CAD 260 an ounce, and we really focused on every viable asset at that sort of gold price or above. We actually used CAD 450, and we were able to build three new mines and capture that big spark in 2011, and we took Deton, which is what we're doing now, and we're able to pay it back on the spark.
When everyone else was running around doing M&A, we were paying our debt back, and it's pretty much what we've been doing in the last couple of years is really keeping a close eye on our balance sheet and looking at ways to actually leverage our per-share value through investments, cash investments rather than premium equity deals. That would be my answer to that question.
Josh Wolfson (Head of Global Mining Research)
Got it. Thank you. The other sort of bigger headline today, and I'm never sure if journalists and perhaps analysts in some situations are taking liberty, but there was an article talking about a board formalized process to find a successor. I understand you're committed to stay until 2028, and I guess I just want to understand why would the board be preparing for this three or four years in advance and any sort of commentary on the succession planning? Thanks.
Mark Bristow (President and CEO)
The succession process is always board oversight. To your point, everyone is desperate for a story. As you know, Randgold was very big on succession. It was a process that we worked with the board to manage, and again, big succession plans need real consideration, and we've been talking about, you've been asking about this for a long time, and I've been talking about it for a long time. If we—and I've always been very clear about succession and the importance of it, so it shouldn't be a surprise to anyone because all of you know me, know our philosophy, and we look at—we reflect on risk, and one of the risks is leadership, and we look at sort of an uncontrolled event and a normal managed transition.
That is why we were able to pick up a very challenging business in the form of Barrick from Randgold back in 2019 and be able to spread out and catch most of the issues immediately because we had that deeper succession plan already entrenched. Our succession works on a 12-month rolling program. It is deep into the organization. As an executive group, we have got to know the top 300 potential high flyers in our organization across all three regions. We have that conversation with the board, and we have an executive development program as an integral part of that succession program, so the board is involved. Let me tell you something, Josh, three years is not a long time, not in a business like Barrick.
Josh Wolfson (Head of Global Mining Research)
Thank you. Maybe if I can ask just one more question on the operations side, are there any kind of insights you can provide in terms of how PV is performing post first quarter results and some of the action plans that were taken then? Thank you.
Mark Bristow (President and CEO)
Yeah. As you know, the big step was a couple of things, but the very big step, the big downtime was the change out of the inner well of the settler, and that's a big project. At the same time, we upgraded the pressure cooling in the autoclaves, and we upgraded some of the big pumps. It is really about the settler and being able to really pick up on the throughput. When we expanded, we have a sag ball combination in the first phase, and the expansion we put in was just a really big single sag mill.
We were not clear about whether we needed more settling capacity when we installed it. Very clearly, we did, so we had to retrofit it. It was an option, and we have done that. The throughput has now stepped up. That graph that I have showed you, that is on track. We have not changed anything. April was a good month on throughput. It is a range as we settle down these throughput numbers, but we are definitely, on average, up there at the target for that bar, and we are already achieving in short runs the quarter two bar. We are comfortable that that installation is going to deliver what we planned, and that is what we are going to track and share with you as we go.
The big focus now this quarter is stabilize that throughput and with it, the recovery because we expect another 1% improvement in recovery by the time we get to the end of this quarter, and then we'll keep that recovery in quarter three, and we'll have another step up in throughput, and then we should see the next step in recovery again. You'll recall a couple of quarters ago, we took you through that recovery will continue to step up out for the next six quarters, but it's really the throughput that drives the production, the first step up in production, which is what we focused on now.
Operator (participant)
The next question is from Daniel Major with UBS. Please go ahead.
Daniel Major (Metals & Mining Analyst)
Hi, Mark. How are you? Well. Yeah.First question, just on Mali, I see you consumed around CAD 80 million of cash this quarter, like negative CAD 64 million EBITDA and CAD 14 million of CapEx. As far as I'm aware, it's not been placed on care and maintenance while the negotiations continue. How long are you willing to keep in this status, and can you give us a reminder on what the care and maintenance cost would be if you move to a full care and maintenance scenario?
Mark Bristow (President and CEO)
At the moment, we haven't moved to a full care and maintenance scenario. We don't intend to. I mean, you'd have to be forced to do that. Right now, we have been—these are two independent companies located in Mali, so we've been utilizing their facilities, in-country facilities, to support their continued work.
In a mine like this, as we go into the rainy season now, we're going to have to manage that, and we want to keep all the infrastructure operating and the underground mines properly dewatered. That is what we've been doing at this stage. Graham, I do not know if you want to comment on the holding costs if we actually close and go on to care and maintenance.
Graham Shuttleworth (Senior Executive Vice-president and CFO)
Yeah. The current sort of run rate, Dan, is around CAD 15 million a month, but as Mark points to, we still have all of our staff on the payroll. We have relocated some of our expatriate staff elsewhere. If we were to go to a—let's call it a full care and maintenance scenario where we were literally just doing skeleton maintenance, you could expect to halve that number. Okay. Less than CAD 10 million a month. Okay. That is clear.
Daniel Major (Metals & Mining Analyst)
Thanks, Graham. Thanks so much. Your next question, just on the portfolio, and I think some positive moves in looking to divest some of the non-core assets. Donlin, and I see the press commentary around Hemlo. Any other comments you can make on Zaldívar? I know that's one that you've highlighted before. Has this process of considering the non-core assets sharpened the focus on that asset?
Mark Bristow (President and CEO)
Zaldívar, we're busy with the renewal of the mining license, and we're making good progress on that, and that's really the most important focus for that team, both on the anti-fragile side and our people who are involved in that process. That's our focus at the moment for Zaldívar. I mean, really, Tongon is one, Hemlo.
As you know, on Hemlo, in 2019, it was already for sale, and what we did is we stepped, pulled it back because it really did not have a plan. Today, what we have done is we had three years of investment into the mine. The last two years, we have had a step up in cash flow from the operation. We have completed the first run at the open pit expansion. We have more work to do. We are drilling at the moment in the underground to be able to work to match the underground reserves with the open pit production profile, and that will take the—it has already got a life of mine that is 10 years. It has prospectivity. We have built additional footprint in the operation and prospectivity. It is a low production mine relative to our tier one sort of hurdle, but it is a good operation. It has always had prospectivity.
It's one of those assets that if you work hard at it, it continues to deliver, and we think it'll continue for a while. It is at a stage where we can defend its viability, and it'll be an attractive asset for a mid-size mining company. That's the basis on—but it really is not for Barrick. Again, you ought to recall that in 2019, when we did the transaction, immediately, once we got everything visible, we cleaned up the portfolio. Sold KCGM, sold Lagunas Norte, sold Massawa in West Africa, and we tied up and distributed that capital gain, which everyone always forgets, but it was a real return to shareholders. Now that we've got real growth, we're looking at a 30% gold equivalent growth out to the end of the decade.
What happens is, and when you clip off the non-core, very quickly you see how you steepen up that growth curve. You certainly allow management to focus on the quality assets. It has not got fundamental—it is not a drain on the overall value of the company. In fact, it enhances the value. It is a good time to do that, and I have always spoken on that basis that non-core assets are well defined in Barrick as our tier one assets, and we are excited about the next phase in Barrick because it really does bring real growth. Again, not too dissimilar to the Randgold situation, which I referred to in 2009 to 2013 when we built out Loulo, Tongon, and Kibali together.
We ran up quite a lot of debt, and then we really delivered that production into a rising gold price, and we funded it all with debt and internal proceeds. We did not issue any equity in the construction. We issued a bit of equity, if you'll recall, in the acquisition of Motta. But it really added real value per share to the portfolio, and we have started today to give you that look. The precursor to delivering value per share is to actually have the reserves per share starting to trend in the right direction, and you can track that performance going forward.
Daniel Major (Metals & Mining Analyst)
Great. Thanks. Maybe I could just put one more in there on the portfolio and perhaps a bigger picture question.
I mean, when I look at asset values across the sector, there's been a widening gap between higher jurisdictional risk and lower jurisdictional risk regions. You have previously shown the kind of discounted multiple of, for example, the Nevada assets within the Barrick portfolio. I mean, internally, is there any discussion about separating the higher and lower jurisdictional risk assets to realize what appears to be a trend amongst investors of willing to pay more for lower risk assets? Is that an internal discussion at all?
Mark Bristow (President and CEO)
Definitely not. Let me just correct you. This is the echo chamber that has developed in the market, but what is driving the valuation in these so-called lower jurisdictions is harvesting. If you look at the assets that have really delivered big growth in equity, it is short-term delivery of strong cash flows, and no one in the analyst fraternity looks at life of mine.
You just look at the next quarter or the next year, and there is a lot of harvesting, a lot of dividend flow, and that is what the fund managers have been paying for. Again, if you look back over the last two decades, the real value comes with long-term delivery. I mean, already, when you look at Barrick's yield, it is at the top end of yield. That is not because we are paying big dividends, it is because of the equity cost. When you buy that equity, if you have a long-term view, you get real returns, and you can look at the long-term life of mine. If you do a simple cash flow model, you get a steepening free cash flow very quickly. We are replacing all the time. Again, when you are not replacing reserves, your sustaining capital comes off very quickly, and it looks good.
Then you come—and most of us in this—I mean, some of you have been around less than I have, but most of us have been long enough to have experienced what happens when you come off on the production because you have not got any alternate. You can buy for so long, but that also runs out. I would argue very differently. It is landing as safe jurisdictions, but it is actually harvesting M&A transactions. I would—and again, it is worth understanding that if you do not know, I am a big shareholder, and I support this longer-term strategy because ultimately, that is what makes real money as an investor. Certainly, our big value investors understand the same story.
Again, it makes no sense when you look at—it was the African assets that really allowed us to fix all the neglect in Nevada and deliver Nevada as we see it today. It is worth looking at the profile of Nevada when we put the two assets together, just the simple profile. You will recall we showed you that. Then look at the life of mine profile today. That comes because of the broad global spread of assets. You will recall that we have been through some challenging times in Nevada on jurisdiction as well and royalties and things that are no different to some of the challenges we have elsewhere in the world. I have always said a world-class—if you want to be world-class, you need to be global. By the way, you have seen this. You have seen just the short history. You have seen Rio go into Mongolia.
You've seen Rio go into Guinea, actively into Guinea after a coup. You've seen Newmont buy into Papua New Guinea, both growing concerns and development projects. You've seen everyone focusing in on Central African Republic because that's where the big copper and other critical minerals sit. I think we get hung up sometimes on or confused about short-term harvesting and jurisdiction.
Daniel Major (Metals & Mining Analyst)
Great. Thanks very much.
Mark Bristow (President and CEO)
Okay.
Operator (participant)
The next question is from Lawson Winder with Bank of America Securities. Please go ahead.
Lawson Winder (Analyst)
Thank you, Operator. Hi, Mark. Good morning to you and the team.
Mark Bristow (President and CEO)
Hello, everyone.
Lawson Winder (Analyst)
Good afternoon now. Okay. Just maybe a couple of questions, and maybe I'll put the two asset ones up front just to maybe be mindful of time. You talk about long-term value and the investments you've made in Nevada, and I think they're very commendable.
One asset that really hasn't been emphasized to a large degree, particularly on the copper side, is Phoenix. And there's a pretty significant copper portfolio or copper byproduct there. When you think about that asset, is there some upside that the market's not thinking about with Phoenix, and in particular with the US taking a look at some of these more strategic assets that have copper, things like the FAST 41 list? That'd be one. The second would just be on the Goldstrike roaster. How many days were actually lost to the planned maintenance at the Goldstrike roaster in Q1? Yeah, just are there any other major planned roaster or autoclave maintenance this year in 2025?
Mark Bristow (President and CEO)
Yeah. Okay.
Phoenix, just to answer that, it's now very much our focus is understanding the full potential of Phoenix because remember, Phoenix has always been run as a gold mine, taking the copper credits. There is definitely potential at Phoenix, porphyry potential. We have defined targets within Phoenix that we're currently evaluating. It's relatively early days, but Phoenix is a different business today than it was back in 2019. In the fullness of time, ultimately, it is a real resource. We haven't really pushed the envelope on conversion yet because we're really understanding the geology. To your point, it's a good observation, Lawson. On the shutdown, I will give you a broad—you have Henri's in the audience here, and he can help with the detail. There were two big shuts back to back, the Goldstrike roaster, and then followed in April with the Gold Quarry roaster.
That sets us up. We are guiding an improved production in Carlin and Nevada generally in quarter two, and again, a better second half than a first half of the year. It is because of our focus on getting those maintenance schedules behind us. Henri, if you do not mind adding the sort of timing.
Henri Gonin (Managing Director of Nevada Gold Mines)
Yeah. The Goldstrike roaster was planned down for 21 days, and it was up after 20. The Goldstrike—I'm sorry, Gold Quarry roaster went down for 28 days as planned in April.
For the autoclaves, the Sage autoclave at TR, we take each autoclave stream down individually so the plant stays running at 50% capacity, but the whole plant did go down for seven days as planned while the first phase or the first autoclave was down. The next one will go down in September for a planned maintenance job.
Mark Bristow (President and CEO)
Lawson, I would just add to that—we were talking about it yesterday, actually—the level of planned maintenance has really shifted to Henri's point about bringing down autoclaves just to check the brick competence. It is for the first time we are actually shifting the majority of downtime in planned maintenance. The autoclaves, we are taking down just to ensure that the integrity of the bricks are in good shape and bringing them up again so that we do not wait until it busts.
We are in a much better place as far as planned maintenance goes. That is why we are a lot more comfortable being able to manage our guidance.
Lawson Winder (Analyst)
Yep. Great for that. Thank you. Can I also ask you about the intended use of proceeds for the Donlin cash that you will be receiving hopefully shortly?
Mark Bristow (President and CEO)
Yeah. Our capital allocation is very clear. Again, if you have followed me through my career, we stick to our plan. We would like to keep the balance sheet very healthy because we are going into this capital phase, and the world is in a very sort of dynamic period, to say the least. The way we manage it is that if we have the ability to allocate and bring down the debt a bit, when we get between zero net debt and CAD 500 million positive cash, we pay a special dividend.
The way to manage that also is share buybacks. We are mindful, as you have seen us doing, of a very considered share buyback strategy as we—and as we lean into rationalizing some of our productive assets, it is good to use some of the Donlin cash to buy back the stock. The best investment we can do right now, it is accretive on every metrics, is buy our stock. That makes sense. At the same time, we recognize the importance of rewarding our shareholders with some additional dividend. That is the sort of—that is the way Graham and I are thinking about it. It is the way the board has guided us in managing this balance sheet, and we will continue to do it that way.
Lawson Winder (Analyst)
Thank you very much.
When you think about redomiciling, potentially redomiciling to the US, there is the cost of losing the net operating loss tax benefit. What are the benefits you're seeing that would justify considering such a move?
Mark Bristow (President and CEO)
The point is, I guess I'd underline your point about considering. Consideration to this has been an ongoing affair going back to even Peter Monk's days. You remember they used to call Barrick American Barrick. I think let's not get ahead of ourselves at this stage. Right now, I think the structure's well structured. One of the issues is that the US assets are not efficiently held in the corporate structure, and it can be done better. Again, on the accumulated losses, and we've got both operating and capital losses, those are always available. We're not planning to sort of do away with them at all.
We are always looking at ways to use them if we can. They will be considered in the overall ongoing debate. That is really where we are at this stage. I think one particular Canadian paper got ahead of themselves on rushing out a story. As I said to that paper, it is something we consider all the time. It is a regular debate in our board, at least on an annual basis, and we will continue to look at opportunities. It needs a logic to drive it, and that is the big challenge.
Lawson Winder (Analyst)
Fantastic. Thank you.
Operator (participant)
The next question is from Tanya Jakusconek with Scotia Bank. Please go ahead.
Tanya Jazic (Director Strategic Support of Commercial Banking Distribution)
Yes. Good afternoon, everybody. Thank you so much for taking my three questions. Mark, can I start back on the non-core assets now that Hemlo is on the block and I look through your portfolio? I think on the previous conference call, you had mentioned both Zaldívar and Tongon as being non-core. Where does Pascua-Lama and North Alberto sit within that portfolio for you?
Mark Bristow (President and CEO)
Tongon, as you know, is far down the road on the process of realization. We started that process a while back. It's in the process. Hemlo's just starting. Pascua is right now, we've just applied for drilling permits to evaluate the preliminary economic assessment we referred to a while back on Pascua. It's an integral part of Lama, as you know, and always has been. More importantly, we've sort of stepped back and looked at it with zoomed out and brought Veladero into that sort of picture. It's got a bit of work to do before we get to the stage that this makes sense to define it as a non-core asset.
We're currently drilling targets adjacent to Veladero because Veladero, we've really transitioned to a good place at the moment. As I say, we've just made the first—we've completed the community consultation, and we've just lodged the initial notice on applying for drilling permits within Pascua-Lama. We call it Alto now, Tanya.
Tanya Jazic (Director Strategic Support of Commercial Banking Distribution)
Okay.
Mark Bristow (President and CEO)
Yeah.
Tanya Jazic (Director Strategic Support of Commercial Banking Distribution)
North Alberto and other down there, those potential sales?
Mark Bristow (President and CEO)
Sorry?
Tanya Jazic (Director Strategic Support of Commercial Banking Distribution)
The rest of some of the other assets that you have in Alto.
Mark Bristow (President and CEO)
Yeah. El Indio. We've realized most of El Indio. Alturas is in a process at the moment. I think it's Alturas, the Chile one. So Norte Abierto is currently—we're busy with Newmont on a pre-feasibility study. We're doing a study on it. It's ongoing, and we'll wait for the results of that study.
Tanya Jazic (Director Strategic Support of Commercial Banking Distribution)
Okay. If I could come back, my second question is, Mark, on the succession planning.
Again, from the article in the Financial Times, they made it sound that it's a more formal process now. I guess the way you answered it, it's just a normal board process through the governance committee that you review succession planning quarterly or yearly. Is that a fair statement?
Mark Bristow (President and CEO)
Yeah. I mean, remember, we went through this process in Randgold Resources. And how you—I mean, Tanya, I spoke to the reporter that you're referring to, so you should take my word for it rather than the reporter's.
Tanya Jazic (Director Strategic Support of Commercial Banking Distribution)
Yeah. No, no. That's what I was just trying to understand. It's just that it's a very—
Mark Bristow (President and CEO)
`We have always spoken about it makes sense to develop people's skills. We have a very structured succession plan. As we get closer to the end of the decade or the completion of Reykjavik or both, you will see a more formal process emerge. It makes sense.
Tanya Jazic (Director Strategic Support of Commercial Banking Distribution)
Okay. And then my last question, if I could, was just on Mali. Maybe, Mark, just what are the next steps? Where are we? I know negotiations continue, but maybe some visibility on—are there any timelines? Not timelines, but any next steps that we should be looking at, or what are your next steps?
Mark Bristow (President and CEO)
I think we've reached agreement three times with the Malians, only for them to walk back the agreement. We're very clear about we've got a process that has commenced within the exit arbitration provisions. That, just to be clear, is based and founded on the agreement that we have in what is the appropriate dispute resolution mechanism. We've agreed it, and we've used it before, there's precedent for it. We would like to believe that that's the focus.
Right now, I can confirm that Mali is participating in that process. At the same time, as we've always done through the last couple of decades, it's better to—and I had this conversation with a member of the junta just over a year ago, and he agreed that it's always better to have a negotiated settlement than a badly run legal fight. I'd like to believe that we're—what I can tell you is we're still very much engaged, and we're, as we've always done. Tanya, it's the same situation. Remember, we found ourselves in, after the transaction in 2019, that Tanzania was closed, Pakistan was nationalized, Papua New Guinea hadn't had its permit renewed. It was a couple of real challenging situations which we diligently worked our way through and delivered significant results out of that and a new partnership.
It is more challenging in Mali because you're dealing with a forced change. One of the big challenges is the lack of professional advice on the Mali side, which would help a lot if we could sit around a table and really unpack the numbers. The thing that really sort of gets my attention is the fact that we've got the unnecessary retention of four of our executive teams, which is completely unacceptable. We are very mindful that we need to work on this diligently and that we need to find a lasting solution with proper due process and the protection of our rights. That is what we're managing.
Tanya Jazic (Director Strategic Support of Commercial Banking Distribution)
Yeah. Can you just remind me where the arbitration would be held? Is it in France, I guess?
Mark Bristow (President and CEO)
It's an exit process. Exactly where the actual arbitration committee will land is something that the process will define going forward. But it's a World Bank exit program.
Tanya Jazic (Director Strategic Support of Commercial Banking Distribution)
Okay. Okay. Thank you. And good luck.
Mark Bristow (President and CEO)
Thank you.
Operator (participant)
The next question is from Joshua Reales with RFI Associates. Please go ahead.
Josh Rales (Managing Partner)
Yes. Good afternoon, Mark. How are you?
Mark Bristow (President and CEO)
Hello, Joshua. I'm very well. Thank you.
Josh Rales (Managing Partner)
Good. I have two questions. The first relates to your cost structure. I love your ownership orientation. I love the Barrick Academy. And I'm looking at how you train people and how you manage costs. And I was comparing Barrick's projected all-in sustaining costs for the year versus Agnico. And you're about CAD 300 an ounce higher.
Could you give a little bit of color on what the main factors are that you think drive those higher costs and whether it is a short-term thing that will converge over time or whether it is because you are all over the world and they are more concentrated in a jurisdiction? I would love to get your thoughts about that to understand that.
Mark Bristow (President and CEO)
And the second?
Josh Rales (Managing Partner)
The second one really relates to the excitement I feel for the industry and your company when you look at the midpoint of your production and all-in sustaining cost guidance for 2025. If you take the run rate at the current gold price, it is about a CAD 1,900-an-ounce pre-tax margin.
I wanted to just kind of confirm that I'm thinking the right way and that that kind of, over a 12-month basis, if this is sustained—and we don't know if it will be—that's about a CAD 6.3 billion pre-tax earnings run rate over 12 months. You clarified how you would prioritize the use of the money. I wanted to ask you, on top of that, if there was another exciting project besides Fourmile that, if you had this kind of excess money, whether you would view your priorities a little bit different and maybe do something more in Canada or somewhere else with the funds or just stick to the special dividend and the buyback.
Mark Bristow (President and CEO)
Joshua, I'll start with the second one.
I'll take you back to 2011 to 2015, where people used to complain that Randgold was ex-growth because all we were doing was growing cash flow. It went on all the way to 2015 when Barrick was the most valued gold company on the planet. Growth comes in many different facets. The most exciting one is when you've got long-term growth, sustainability, and you grow your profits. You grow your cash flow. I mean, if you look at if you take today's spot, which is difficult to do because, remember, there's a cost in it. These costs change in an environment like we're dealing with today. They're still going to come through. If you take today's revenue side, you're absolutely right. In fact, if the cost profile that we've got today stays, we won't go into debt at all.
We will grow revenues. Of course, what we have shown is that we do not lurch from one M&A transaction to another, but we are consistently investing in our future, which eventually pays off. On the actual cost and Agnico Eagle, one thing that everyone misses, and I would strongly recommend you do, is just plot the depreciation of the Canadian dollar and the Australian dollar versus the US dollar because the US dollar is the benchmark. Headline inflation in US dollars is real. There is no depreciation of a currency. That is, depending on where you look to going backwards, but it is around 10%. The Australian dollar is a bit more significantly larger than that.
Then you look at our forecast cash flow—I mean, sorry, all-in sustaining costs and total cash costs because we run our business on both—out to the end of the year, we're well within that range when you adjust for depreciation when we're talking specifically Agnico. At the same time, we're not harvesting a transaction. We're investing in our future. Fixing up some of the challenges in Nevada and the same with Porgera and the same with Tanzania is—we showed you at Investor Day that we're running about CAD 150 or even a little bit more on a per—I mean, shoved back to this position—on a per-ounce basis above what our normal sustaining capital is. We've shown why, and we've—particularly in Nevada, there was a significant neglect in planned maintenance.
We've had a catch-up on the planned maintenance, and we have a cost because we've rolled out the reserves and the life of mines organically rather than buying them. That comes with a cost because we've scheduled an additional 110 million ounces in reserves. That's gold equivalent, so copper and gold life of mine schedules. That comes with an additional cost on the cost side. It does come down, as we've pointed to. The way it comes down is how successful are we in replacing and rolling our plans forward because that dampens that decline in all-in sustaining costs. We do get some benefit of currencies, but most of our operations around the world are dollar-based. We do not operate in a big delivery or big ounces in Canada and definitely not in Australia. You cannot compare apples with pears.
That's really the driver. I see Graham wants to add to that.
Graham Shuttleworth (Senior Executive Vice-president and CFO)
Yeah. I think you've covered it well, Mark. The only other point I would make is, obviously, our forecast production is increasing over the next few years. As that production goes up, we expect our costs to come down.
Josh Rales (Managing Partner)
We'll converge. This was enormously helpful. Thank you for just your great stewardship. The quality of these calls is amazing. Thank you for that, Joshua. As you know, we're always available if you call into the team to help you get those models clear. Very much appreciated.
The last question is from John Tumazos with John Tumazos Very Independent Research. Please go ahead.
John Tumazos (Owner and CEO)
Thank you. Could you explain the organizational benefits as you simplify without Donlin and potentially Hemlo, Tongon, Zaldívar?
Maybe you save CAD 2 million a month of exploration costs without Donlin, but you free up exploration personnel, admin resources, maybe reclamation personnel down the road divesting the older mines. Just tell us how it makes your life easier.
Mark Bristow (President and CEO)
John, nice to hear your voice. As usual, you're the last but not least in the line. One of the things I've always done is we don't increase our exploration budget with an increasing gold price or a decreasing gold price. We're very clear about we have one number between the mineral resource management or brownfields teams and the exploration teams. They have to compete for those dollars. What it does is keep us very focused on the quality of our portfolio. Over the last couple of years, four years, we've really tidied up our exploration team.
As you have heard, the rump of the El Indio and some of the other exploration projects that have been around for decades have now closed or dealt. We have got a new portfolio of targets, much more focused. Donlin has its own team. We managed the process, or Christine and her team, along with the NovaGold Group. What it does is it is going to—I think Christine is looking forward to having more time to focus on North America and our portfolio of opportunities than be up there in Alaska. That is a big release of executive time. The same Tongon, again, we will sell the asset with the team that runs the mine. As you know, we are diverse and flat in our structure. Mines have a full management team. Anyone buying it gets that team if they want it.
We are planning to continue our exploration efforts in Ivory Coast. We've got some interesting new projects there on the other side of the country from Tongon. We have some real focused work, generative work in Chile, which we'll continue to focus on. We've got emerging projects both in Peru—I have spoken about Argentina—and some new ones in Ecuador. We've got lots to keep us busy with. I think it's the management time, the executive time that these smaller assets that are high cost—and that's something I haven't touched on—is these assets we're disposing of are all at the high cost end of our portfolio. We would be bringing the cost down without really changing the production profile much. I hope that helps.
John Tumazos (Owner and CEO)
Thank you.
Mark Bristow (President and CEO)
That's it.
Operator (participant)
There currently are no further questions in the conference call.
Mark Bristow (President and CEO)
Thank you. Can we wrap up?
Thank you very much, everyone. Thank you, those on the line, for taking the time. I know it has been a busy day with multiple presentations. I appreciate those who have actually made the time to come in and visit. For those who are here, we have got some snacks, and you can catch up with the team next door. Feel free to stay on. Thank you again. We will be speaking to you, most of you, I think, maybe in Barcelona next week. Cheers.
Operator (participant)
This concludes today's event. Should you have additional questions, please contact the Barrick Investor Relations Team. You may disconnect your lines. Thank you for participating and have a pleasant day.