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Gold/Mining/Energy : ARP - V Argentina Gold -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Tony from Niagara who wrote (3025)	3/1/1999 9:26:00 PM
From: Mr. Oil	Respond to of 3282

I didn't find the article from the Globe and Mail either however there was an interview with the new CEO of Barrick Randall Oliphant today which was posted by Yahoo and has some interesting tid bits. biz.yahoo.com Monday March 1, 8:15 pm Eastern Time INTERVIEW - New Barrick CEO picky about acquisitions By Sarah Edmonds TORONTO, March 1 (Reuters) - The brand-new chief executive of Barrick Gold Corp., North America's second-largest gold producer, said on Monday he will keep an eye out for any solid-gold acquisition opportunities in the industry. Barrick, which just signed a friendly deal to acquire Sutton Resources Ltd. (Toronto:STT.TO - news) and its prized Bulyanhulu gold project in Tanzania, failed to win the hand of Argentina Gold Corp. (Vancouver:ARP.V - news) last month with a C$160 million hostile offer. Barrick, which owns 9.9 percent of Argentina Gold and plans to keep the stake, coveted control of the Vancouver company's Veladero mine in northwestern Argentina. ''We will move when we see things that meet our criteria,'' Randall Oliphant, Barrick's former chief financial officer who was named to the CEO post on Monday, said in a telephone interview. "We've made the move on Sutton but we also find ourselves in the very fortunate position of having just brought on-stream the lowest-cost mine in the world in the form of (Peruvian mine) Pierina. Sutton will be another fantastic mine for Barrick and beyond that we've got Pascua (on the Chile-Argentina border). ''But while we continue to follow everything that's going on in the gold industry, we already have a solid growth profile in front of us and therefore we'll be highly selective in what we do,'' Oliphant added. He said that while Barrick paid ''a full price'' for Sutton now, he believes the acquisition will make a significant contribution to reserves, production, earnings and cash flow over the longer term. The expiry of the Argentina Gold bid coincided with the surprise resignation of Chief Executive Paul Melnuk, who took over the gold producer just last spring. Oliphant said there was little he could say about Melnuk's resignation, except to emphasize that the two events had nothing to do with one another. ''The problem is when someone leaves for personal reasons, it's incumbent on us to respect those reasons. And no matter how much time goes by, it wouldn't be fair to comment on something that was personal,'' he added. Coincident with Oliphant's appointment, John Carrington was named vice-chairman and Jamie Sokalsky was appointed chief financial officer. Oliphant rose through the ranks at Barrick and believes the company has a winning strategy which he will use to develop the company further. ''We're on track to meet all of our targets -- 1999 should be a very exciting year for us as our production jumps considerably up to 3.6 million ounces and our costs drop to $125 (an ounce). So far, we are well on track to meeting those objectives,'' Oliphant said. ''We don't generally comment on quarterly results but it's probably fair to say that with the year being better in total than 1998 was, that on balance the quarters should be better than the quarters were in 1998.'' _____________________________________________________________ Interesting to note they are not going to sell their share of ARP! Oliphant says also that they will move when they see things that meet their criteria. Does sound promising for ARP shareholders! New blood and new times ahead. I think I will continue to hold my position. I would hate to sell before ABX makes their successful bid. That will be worth the wait. Ray