Throughout the 20 years that are expected to be added to the useful life of the gold mine in Old Town Barrickthe Dominican State may benefit from more than 2,000 to 4,000 million dollars, depending on how the price of gold fluctuates in the market until 2040, he announced yesterday Mark Bristowpresident and CEO of Barrick Gold Corporation.
“It is important for me to make people accept Barrick as an investor and as partners in the country”, the South African said.
While speaking with media executives and commentators, he expressed that the company has “had to deal with the allegations and accusations of the first phase, because many people return to the environmental damage of the past,” when the mine that operates in the Sánchez province Ramírez was not under his administration.
As a senior manager of the multinational, Bristow is determined that another tailings dam be built before 2027, a facility that, after a long period of controversy, was finally authorized to the company by decree of the Executive Power. This will make it possible to extend the useful life of the gold mine, considered world-class, over the year 2040, and increase production, which has decreased due to the need for said deposit.
Last month, President Luis Abinader authorized by decree the expansion of the Montenegro Fiscal Zone, an area where it operates Old Town Barrick, “for the installation of a co-disposal facility for tailings and rocks with no economic value”, better known as a tailings dam. It was given 36 months to carry out and present the environmental impact and feasibility studies for said project, the execution of which was conditional on the approval of the Ministry of Energy and Mines.
“The government’s relationship with us is very professional,” Bristow said. “We have built a strong relationship in difficult times, working to find the right place for the dam.”
The company raffled several options for said space, the cost being the difference between the final place and the first option they contemplated, due to the conditions of the land and the adjustments to be made.
A relocation committee is working on the logistics to manage the transition to construction of the tailings dam, a process that involves the relocation of 500 families.
Recover the investment
Bristow notified that the shareholders of Old Town Barrick they still have to recover 60,458 million pesos of their initial and expansion capital investment. As long as the Dominican State has received 154,441 million pesos in direct and indirect cash returns since 2013.
The government received from Barrick an advance of 142 million dollars, as support to face the economic and social situation generated by the coronavirus pandemic. The company detailed that 47 million dollars of taxes were anticipated for 2021 and 97 million dollars for 2022-2023.
The government projects income next year for 95.2 million dollars, equivalent to 5,421 million pesos, from the Pueblo Viejo Dominicana Corporation, implying a reduction of 43.7% compared to what was collected in 2022.
The draft national budget for 2023 indicates that this fall is mainly explained by advances in the RNF or royalty during the past year and the lower extraction of doré expected due to the change in the ore grade of the deposits, despite the fact that In the coming year, the price of gold will remain at levels similar to those observed in 2022.
