Barrick and Newmont change leaders as gold hits a fresh record

Newmont and Barrick Mining, the world’s two largest gold producers, both announced a change of leadership overnight Monday as the metal rallied to a fresh record of almost $US4000 an ounce.

Newmont said Tom Palmer will step down on December 31 after six years at the helm, to be succeeded by chief operating officer Natascha Viljoen. The transition was largely expected, according to analysts at Citigroup and Toronto-Dominion Bank.

In contrast, the departure of Barrick’s Mark Bristow, one of the most high-profile and outspoken chief executives in the mining business, came as a surprise. Mr Bristow had almost seven years in the top job, following Barrick’s acquisition of his previous company, Randgold Resources. Barrick executive Mark Hill takes over on an interim basis while the company works to identify a permanent CEO.

Both companies fell in New York trading on Monday, with Barrick declining as much as 4.1 per cent and Newmont dropping up to 2.3 per cent. Newmont is also listed in Australia.

Gold surged to a new peak of $US3833.59/oz extending a rally to about 46 per cent this year.

The abrupt exit of Mr Bristow, 66, highlights the operational and political risks faced by the mining industry, and the underperformance of gold producer stocks in recent years despite the rally of the precious metal itself.

Barrick has struggled under Mr Bristow’s tenure, lagging its rivals while gold production slumped to the lowest in more than two decades amid operational and political setbacks at its mines around the world.

The two announcements are “a somewhat unusual coincidence”, said Citi analyst Alexander Hacking, adding that Mr Palmer’s move was “well flagged” while Mr Bristow had previously stated his intention to retire in 2028.

Mr Bristow had been unable to recreate the magic he cast while at Randgold, where he had delivered a 4000 per cent return before Barrick’s $US5.4 billion takeover in 2019. That frustrated investors who expected more from a Toronto-based company that was once the world’s biggest gold producer, especially after gold started rallying to repeated record highs.

Newmont surpassed Barrick as the top gold producer thanks to takeovers including its 2019 purchase of Goldcorp and Newcrest Mining in 2023.

Barrick struggled with operational challenges at far-flung mines including those in Papua New Guinea and Mali, where the company owns the massive Loulo-Gounkoto gold complex. A spat over alleged back taxes and new legislation escalated to the point where the country’s military-led government first blocked exports and then took over management of the asset.

Mr Bristow also made changes to the company’s direction, including an effort to develop a vast project in Pakistan, Reko Diq, as part of a push into copper. As a reflection of the shifting focus, the company changed its name from Barrick Gold to Barrick Mining earlier this year and sold off some Canadian gold mines. Even then, Barrick was touting what analysts called a “game changer” gold discovery in Nevada, known as Fourmile, earlier this month.

“Barrick has just started to show some recovery after a number of difficult years operationally, and its Fourmile discovery is very exciting,” said George Cheveley, a portfolio manager with Ninety One, which owns shares of Barrick and Newmont.

“It will be interesting to see whom the board selects as his successor and whether the strategy changes from organic growth.”

Meanwhile, Newmont also has faced setbacks in an industry that has grappled with rising costs, operational issues and supply-chain woes over the past decade. The Denver-based company has been working to improve efficiencies after integrating its Newcrest takeover, including dealing with ongoing cost issues from its Lihir operation in Papua New Guinea and Cadia mine in Australia.

Mr Palmer, 58, will be staying on as a strategic adviser until he retires on March 31, while Ms Viljoen, 55, officially takes over the CEO role in January, according to Newmont’s statement.

Investor Adrian Day sees Mr Palmer’s successor as a familiar face who has done “a good job” articulating the company’s direction — including as recently as this month during the Mining Forum Americas industry event in Colorado.

“I don’t see huge changes at Newmont,” said Mr Day, whose asset management firm is based in Maryland. “This has been a small transition. It doesn’t change my view on Newmont.”

Bloomberg