Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.
Speaker 2: We are here with a number of mining executives, and
Speaker 2: I'm here with Mark Cristo, the CEO of Bear called
Speaker 2: Mark great to get you on set. So I wanted
Speaker 2: to start first with what we're seeing globally and the
Speaker 2: effect that it's having on gold process, record upon record
Speaker 2: upon record. What's your outlook for where Bullian goes from here?
Speaker 1: You know, as you say, Jennifer, everyone's trying very hard
Speaker 1: to push the gold for us up with what we're
Speaker 1: seeing is continuation of d Dollarisasian fueled by the actions
Speaker 1: coming out of Washington and the White House. And on
Speaker 1: top of that, you know, we've got challenges in the UK,
Speaker 1: Europe is not in good place, with the French and
Speaker 1: the Germans, you know, the leaders of the Free world
Speaker 1: all in the crossis, and of course Middle East and
Speaker 1: conflicts in every continent. So you know, gold price has
Speaker 1: got a lot of upside. Still, I always say the
Speaker 1: risk is on the upside and it's very much intact
Speaker 1: that trend.
Speaker 2: How much further do you think it has to go?
Speaker 2: Because some people believe potentially repeaked.
Speaker 1: You know, everyone has been saying that you've seen and
Speaker 1: the equities have been softer than the actual bullion press
Speaker 1: over twenty twenty four. But I don't think so. And certainly,
Speaker 1: I mean there's a lot of a lot of reason
Speaker 1: why the gol pross shouldn't go down, and because it's
Speaker 1: when you try, and if you try and look at
Speaker 1: what it's going to take for us to get back
Speaker 1: to normality in the global economy today, it's not an
Speaker 1: easy task. And I think we've seen, you know, damage
Speaker 1: to the US dollar as a reputational currency, and gold
Speaker 1: has taken that place. And I think what we've also
Speaker 1: seen and a lot of people because I'm sure to
Speaker 1: your next question, you know, bitcoins and all those are
Speaker 1: not stores of value. They are trading instruments. So gold
Speaker 1: has rarely arrived as the ultimate store of value, and
Speaker 1: people are buying the physical. What we've got to do
Speaker 1: in the mining industry is catch up with the price
Speaker 1: of gold.
Speaker 2: Well, and I want to talk about some of the
Speaker 2: trends that we're seeing in the mining industry, one of
Speaker 2: which being M and A. We've seen a lot of
Speaker 2: that potential activity at least starting to happen. Is your
Speaker 2: expectation that that will, hopefully you know, strengthen the mining
Speaker 2: industry and get to some of those goals that you're
Speaker 2: just mentioning there.
Speaker 1: So M and A ready, you know, we need consolidation
Speaker 1: rather than M and A because we've got too many
Speaker 1: companies running too fewer assets, and so you need to consolidate,
Speaker 1: whether it's in the middle, mid tier, bottom tier, or
Speaker 1: the big players. But I think what it's really tagging
Speaker 1: us is as an industry, we haven't invested in our
Speaker 1: future and we're now seeing what we saw back in
Speaker 1: the thirty teens of the century in that we're chasing
Speaker 1: growth inverted commas through acquisition, and we're paying big premiums
Speaker 1: for them and you know, higher goal price makes it
Speaker 1: look good for a moment, but things normalize.
Speaker 2: What does that mean for Barrack's assets then, and especially
Speaker 2: on the African cors.
Speaker 1: All the assets are very valuable, whatever assets you've got,
Speaker 1: particularly if you're in gold and copper today.
Speaker 2: Thing to exit any of the operation definitely not okay.
Speaker 1: No, we constantly look at our core assets because I'm
Speaker 1: very focused on high quality tier one assets, and so
Speaker 1: there's a type and there's a market for those non
Speaker 1: core assets. But we're you know, we've been. We're a
Speaker 1: long term player. We invest heavily in growth, organic growth.
Speaker 1: We are pointing to a thirty increase in production by
Speaker 1: the end of this decade, organic growth at all of
Speaker 1: your operations across the group. And that's going to happen
Speaker 1: without any issuing of shares. In fact, we're buying back shares.
Speaker 2: So when are you going to start playing backshares?
Speaker 1: We have already started?
Speaker 2: Do you plan to continue doing another?
Speaker 1: Absolutely? Certainly where the chef RS is sitting at the moment,
Speaker 1: and one of the best investments we can make is
Speaker 1: buy back our own share.
Speaker 2: What do you think where do you think the share
Speaker 2: perce then has to go?
Speaker 1: I think the ship, Well it's got to go up.
Speaker 2: Okay, yes, but then what is your calls then for that?
Speaker 1: You know that's the market will judge that. And at
Speaker 1: the end of the day, what we've got and we're
Speaker 1: about to bring out our twenty twenty four results. We
Speaker 1: have one of the strongest balance sheets in the industry.
Speaker 1: We were able to buy back our shares and were
Speaker 1: investing all the time in new opportunities. And more importantly,
Speaker 1: we're about to build out two really big mining projects,
Speaker 1: the expansion in Zambia doubling production, and then the big
Speaker 1: gold and copper asset in Pakistan, which is one of
Speaker 1: the biggest gold and copper minds that haven't been developed
Speaker 1: yet in the world.
Speaker 2: And Mark, I also want to talk to you about
Speaker 2: another one of your operations that's in Mali. There's been
Speaker 2: a lot of focus on what's happening the discussions between
Speaker 2: the Mali and government and also Barrick where what is
Speaker 2: the next shoot to drop? Where are we at right
Speaker 2: now negotiations.
Speaker 1: You know, Jennifer, it's been a very sad time for me.
Speaker 1: You know, I've been in Maley since it was really
Speaker 1: re established as a democracy. And I said, I've worked
Speaker 1: with many, many all the governments since nineteen ninety two,
Speaker 1: and I think we've Mali's got itself in a position where,
Speaker 1: you know, it's really tried to shake out some short
Speaker 1: term cash out of the industry, and this industry is
Speaker 1: the very foundation of its economy, and I think we
Speaker 1: we need to and so communication, to your point, is
Speaker 1: really important. We are in communication. We are working every
Speaker 1: and were making progress not as fast as I would expected,
Speaker 1: but I'm sure everyone's a little cautious because that's what
Speaker 1: happens when you get on the wrong side of everyone.
Speaker 2: So you haven't agreed to a number to paying back any.
Speaker 1: Of So we haven't reached an agreement on anything yet,
Speaker 1: but we are making progress and I think that's the
Speaker 1: positive of these engagement.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much. We have to leave it there.
Speaker 2: Mark Bristow, the CEO of Barrickle, joining us here at
Speaker 2: Africa Mining and Dava