China’s Shandong Gold to unveil maiden overseas foray by buying half of Barrick’s Argentina mine

Shandong Gold Mining will soon announce it has signed a “strategic cooperation” agreement with Barrick Gold Corp that will see the Chinese miner buy half of the latter’s Veladero gold mine in Argentina for just under US$1 billion in what would be its first overseas foray.

The deal with Canada-based Barrick, the world’s largest gold miner, will be unveiled in a filing to the Shanghai stock exchange soon, an investor relations executive, who declined to be named, told the South China Morning Post by phone on Thursday.

“This is our first overseas investment executed in accordance to the internationalisation strategy required by the national 13th five-year plan,” he said, adding that the firm had also been seeking acquisition opportunities in Russia, Brazil, Canada, the Middle East, Kazakhstan, South Africa and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Trading of shares in Shandong Gold was suspended on Wednesday, pending “a major matter” on which it would soon make a decision, it said on the same day. The suspension will last no more than five trading days.

The impending investment in Veladero is taking place even as the Canadian miner grappled with a pipe rupture at the site.

Barrick was no longer in discussions with China’s Zijin Mining Group about the Veladero mine stake sale, sources familiar with the transaction told Reuters.