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NEM
The gold drama is over
Barrick and Newmont have settled their months-long Nevada dispute with a $1.95 billion deal, and yes, that’s billion with a B. Newmont agreed to Barrick’s planned IPO and will pay the cash within 30 days, which takes a very expensive legal headache off the table.
Why this matters for your portfolio
This wasn’t just a rich-people spat over shovels in the desert. The fight threatened Barrick’s North American spin-off, which is supposed to unlock value from its Nevada assets and give investors a cleaner story to price. When a deal like this gets unstuck, the market tends to breathe a little easier — especially if it was worried the whole thing could become a drawn-out tug-of-war.
The bigger picture for Barrick
Barrick is also trying to reboot the narrative around leadership and performance. The company appointed Mark Hill as CEO after John Thornton pushed out former CEO Mark Bristow, and shareholders have been loudly grumbling about governance. So this settlement does more than end a dispute: it helps Barrick move one step closer to proving it can actually execute the spin-off without turning the process into a soap opera.
Meanwhile, the numbers weren’t exactly boring
Barrick said second-quarter adjusted earnings came in at $0.82 per share. Higher costs and retrospective tax penalties in Mali pinched profits, even though gold production rose 11% quarter over quarter to 796,000 ounces and net earnings still landed at $1.2 billion.
Big picture: Barrick just removed a giant legal and strategic speed bump. Now the company has to turn that breathing room into something investors actually want to own.