JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Gold and copper mining company Barrick has a detailed emission reduction roadmap in place that allows it to be unequivocal about the extent to which it will mitigate against climate change going forward.

“We are absolutely clear that we will reduce our greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 30% by 2030 and what makes it different for Barrick is that each one of these projects meet our 15% IRR hurdle at $1 200/oz gold,” Barrick CE Dr Mark Bristow spelt out to Mining Weekly unambiguously in an interview following its publication of another superb set of financial results. (Also see graphic of roadmap attached.)

Free cash flow from the operations remained robust at the year’s end, with net cash at $130-million after the record cash distribution of $1.4-billion to shareholders. Barrick’s production in 2021 was in line with guidance for the third successive year. The company also more than replaced its gold reserves net of depletion at a better grade owing to its ongoing and far-reaching exploration efforts.

Regarding emission reduction, the New York- and Toronto-listed company has refined and engineered projects that are poised to deliver a carbon dioxide equivalent (CO₂e) reduction of 25% against a target of a 30% reduction, or 5 279 000 t, of CO₂e, and it is working on the other 5%.

“That’s all Scope 1 and 2,” said Bristow.

Effectively, however, some of it might be considered Scope 3, for instance, the bringing in of green power from Chile to its Veladero mine in Argentina – a significant saving owing to Chile’s energy being among the greenest in the world.

“We’re very clear about what we can do and we’ve got a fantastic plan, and now it’s about understanding Scope 3, and we’re way down the road in that. We’re not interested in taking away the business from our in-country service providers.

“What we’ve got to do is partner with them and work with them to be able to participate in our business and drive their own businesses and at the same time deliver improvements on emissions.

“We’re doing exactly the same with water and one of the things that I think is completely neglected is that if you want a healthy world, you need to worry much more about biodiversity. It’s a practical investment that is required. Mining has been very good with reforestation but the biodiversity on our planet is an important component of the future survival of our environment on this planet. The planet will always look after itself. The issue we’re facing as humans on this globe is what we do about it and it’s often lost on the people in the cities,” said Bristow, whose company is:

• relocating rhino back into the Garamba National Park, in north-eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). “The last elephant that was poached at Garamba was in September 2019.  Before that, it wasn’t uncommon to have 300 elephants poached in a year. It shows you what investment can do,” said Bristow.
• carrying out biosphere reorientation on a biosphere heritage site in Mali;
• looking at the preservation of pristine forests in Zambia;
• assisting the Papua New Guinea government to manage the country’s carbon capture endowment;
• funding sage grouse conservation in Nevada, US; and
• being part of a project in Dominican Republic to protect a small endangered species of gecko.

SCOPE 3 ROADMAP ON WAY

On the company’s upcoming Scope 3 roadmap, Bristow said: “We’ve done a lot of work on identifying our Scope 3 emissions. It’s about 4% of our total emissions. We’ve identified them and we’ve done it on a value basis first because it’s a very complicated story and it’s mostly upstream, going into the transport and manufacture of our consumables.

“We’ve looked at the largest value players, in other words where we spend more of our dollars, because we’re very mindful of disrupting or destroying the delicate service provision infrastructure that we’ve invested in to ensure that our host countries participate in our economy.

“With that, we’ve committed 2023 to do with Scope 3 what we have done with Scope 1 and 2 as we would want to have a clear roadmap ahead, and that’s what we are working on at the moment,” he said.

He described the gold refining footprint as being very small and very different to, for example, an iron-ore smelting environment, and the processing side of iron-ore.

Concentrate is shipped from two of Barrick’s three copper mines and although that adds some downstream emissions, it is not insurmountable to manage.

Mining Weekly: To what extent has the use of diesel been reduced in underground mining?

Bristow: We are about to start trialling the Ford F-150 Lightning underground EV version and again those emissions we really looked at long and hard. Managing batteries is not a simple thing. Having a battery in a Tesla car in an open atmosphere and very stable conditions is very different to putting big batteries into heavy trucks underground in a high humidity environment. We’re certainly investing in things like drill rigs, which are also important. We have a very strong partnership with Sandvik and the big challenge for us is road haulage; we can still get there, but our big mining trucks, that’s the challenge that the industry faces at the moment.

What about green hydrogen?

There are lots of trials going on, a lot of products without a plan. I think the harsh reality of technical development is dawning on everyone, because it’s easy to promise.

SETTING THE PACE IN BIODIVERSITY MANAGEMENT

Barrick group sustainability executive Grant Beringer believes the importance of biodiversity conservation needs more global recognition.

“We believe biodiversity management is critical not only in the way we adapt to climate change but also in the fight against poverty. That’s why we are partnering with governments, conservation bodies and communities to conserve important habitats in our host countries in Africa, North America and Latin America,” he says.

GARAMBA NATIONAL PARK, DRC

Barrick’s Kibali mine in the DRC has worked with the Garamba National Park, a world heritage site and home of DRC’s largest elephant herd as well the critically endangered Kordofan giraffe, since 2014.

Kibali has funded the purchase of elephant tracking collars and improved roads and bridges to better rangers’ access to all parts of the park.

LUMWANA OFFSET PROJECT, ZAMBIA

An eligibility study is under way to protect forests and woodlands around the Lumwana copper mine, which is situated within the Acres National Forest Reserve. The mine has already implemented beekeeping, horticulture and nursery establishment initiatives as well as a programme to curb illegal timber cutting and charcoal production. Any credits Barrick receives from the project will be used to offset hard-to-abate emissions.

PUEBLO VIEJO, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

The Pueblo Viejo mine is located in a biodiversity hotspot which is home to more than 5 600 plant and 200 bird species. In 2018, a small species of diurnal gecko, classed as critically endangered by the Dominican Republic and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, was detected on the site. The mine commissioned extensive fieldwork as well as genetic and morphological studies to confirm this identification and map the gecko’s distribution. These showed that the size of the population and the extent of its habitat were greater than previously understood, and that sphaerodactylus samanensis could be removed from the red list. The research data has been shared with the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.

FINA RESERVE, MALI

Barrick has partnered with the government and African Parks to restore Fina, which has been impacted by poaching, illegal wood cutting, grazing and farming. Collaborative action is being taken to demarcate and secure the park, curb illegal activities through recruiting rangers and starting aerial patrols, rehabilitate the fauna and flora, establish a proper database and install the infrastructure needed for the proper management of the park. Longer-term, the aim is to develop ecotourism, with its potential for local job creation.

NEVADA GOLD MINES, US

Across much of the Great Nevada basin, the greater sage grouse habitat is in decline owing to fires, invasive plant species and human impact. To mitigate the impact of mining on the sagebrush ecosystem, Nevada Gold Mines collaborates with partners, including the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bureau of Land Management and the Nevada Sagebrush Ecosystem Technical Team. To date, this team effort has rehabilitated more than 11 500 ha of habitat and the partners are now embarking on research to better understand the birds’ breeding habits.

LATEST RESULTS

Driven by strong performances from its Africa, Middle East and Latin America regions, Barrick was able to declare a dividend of $0.10 a share for the fourth quarter of 2021, which represents an increase of 11% on the previous base quarterly dividend of $0.09 a share.

A share buyback of up to $1-billion of outstanding common shares over the next 12 months has been authorised.

Under the company’s new dividend policy, a base dividend will in future be coupled to a performance dividend linked to the net cash on the balance sheet.

The board also approved a share buyback program of up to $1-billion, given our belief that the shares are trading in a price range that does not reflect the value of the company’s mining and financial assets and future business prospects.

In a sector feeling the pinch of dwindling reserves and resources, successful exploration continued to replenish the company’s asset base and target pipeline, securing its business plans well into the future, the company stated in a release to Mining Weekly.

In North America, gains were driven by the completion of the updated feasibility study of the Goldrush underground project, which increased Goldrush’s attributable proven and probable mineral reserves by 3.6-million ounces to 4.8-million ounces at 7.29 g/t. At the Turquoise Ridge complex, attributable proven and probable reserves increased by 1.4-million ounces before depletion, principally off the back of a revised geological model at Turquoise Ridge Underground.

In Africa, Bulyanhulu completed an updated underground feasibility study on the Deep West portion of the orebody, allowing Barrick to increase attributable proven and probable reserves by 0.77-million ounces before depletion through the conversion of inferred mineral resources. Staying in Tanzania, a fully optimised integrated mine plan at North Mara has increased attributable proven and probable reserves by 1.1-million ounces before depletion. Barrick’s tier-1 mines in Africa also delivered strong results, with Kibali able to more than replace depletion of reserves and Loulo-Gounkoto replenishing 98% of depletion for the year.