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Gold/Mining/Energy : Barrick Gold (ABX) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: posthumousone who wrote (2617)	5/10/2002 1:55:59 PM
From: goldsheet	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3558

Going way back, Homestake may have originally paid too much for Argentina Gold (Barrick was the other bidder), but they worked on Veladero to more than double reserves. Barrick ended up buying Homestake for less per share than the cost of the shares Homestake originally issued to acquire Argentina Gold, so Barrick got a great deal. In hindsight, Homestake really was in a very tough situation. They either had to acquire (Normandy being the logical choice) or get acquired (Barrick being the obvious choice) Remaining independent would not have worked, and I think HM shareholders made out well, since the stock doubled prior to the acquisition. Barrick has what it takes to develop Veladero - Pascua Lama, which I don't think HM would have been able to pull off alone.

To: posthumousone who wrote (2617)	5/10/2002 4:45:55 PM
From: russet	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3558

I liked Arp,...I liked it when Homestake bought Arp. I was not in Homestake when Barrick bought it as I sold shortly after my Arp shares were turned into Homestake shares. I, like Bob, don't think Homestake had much choice. They waited too long to react to decreasing POG and declining reserves in past years, and it eventually caught up to them. I think the merger was good for the shareholders of both companies. Homestake was not just Veladero, although Veladero and the properties around it are huge. There is a big porphyry to the south of Veladero that is thought to have been the engine that generated what's been found so far at Veladero and probably Pascua, and others that likely have not been found. Homestake's geologist contend that Veladero/Pascua will be a very big mining district for many, many years,...based on Barricks actions, I would say they agree. Homestake also had some excellent mines and properties in Australia. Exploration in Australia is in its infancy, and there are prospective greenstone belts all over the place. Many huge, very prospective areas have not even been staked yet, let alone examined by modern exploration methods. It will likely become the next South America for North American explorationists and Homestake gave Barrick a good foothold there. I assume you know about Eskay creek,...very cheap gold there, and good chances for more resource to be found at the mine and in the area,...things are turning around slowly in B.C. now that the last government got the boot,...the new government is considerably more pro mining. Barrick is the conservative way to play the POG rise. If the climb sputters out, it will fall the least,...yet the share price will continue to rise with the POG. Seems to me Barrick is an excellent conservative pick for a diversified stock portfolio in which you can hedge other stock picks with a good, well managed gold producer that has a proven track record of decreasing costs, acquiring low cost high value mining properties, increasing reserves with the drillbit, increasing production, reducing risks, building new mines quickly, efficiently, and within budget, and maximizing profits through prudent fiscal budgeting and planning. Barrick has the strongest balance sheet in the gold mining industry with the only A-rating, cash and short-term investments of $840-million, working capital of $595-million, and no net debt. That A rating comes from the two bond rating agencies, Standard and Poors and Moody's. They are looking over Barricks financial statements every quarter and are not downgrading them because of the rising POG.