Barrick Appoints Hill as Permanent CEO as it Moves Forward with Demerger

Plenty to unpack in Barrick’s full-year and Q4 results

Barrick Mining Corporation (NYSE: B) has chosen interim CEO Mark Hill as the man to take the company forward, which will include an initial public offering of the company’s North American gold assets.

Hill, a Barrick veteran who was most recently the company’s chief operating officer, Latin America and Asia Pacific, was appointed as chief operating officer and interim CEO in September, following the sudden departure of former boss Mark Bristow.

He was today named as permanent president, CEO and director.

In a statement, Barrick chairman John Thornton said Hill “brings the rigour and operational discipline to fully capitalise on Barrick’s world-class assets and capabilities, and to drive improved performance, growth and shareholder value”.

The company also added Canadian and former McKinsey & Company senior partner Robert Samek to its board as an independent director.

It comes after Barrick last month announced director Helen Cai would replace chief financial officer Graham Shuttleworth from March 1.

North American IPO advancing

On December 1, amid mounting speculation about the company’s future structure, Barrick announced it was exploring the possibility of a demerger of its North American gold assets.

Following further assessment, Barrick’s board concluded that the IPO represented the best path forward for maximising shareholder value.

“[The board have] done a lot of analysis and looked at different outcomes, different permutations, and at the end of the day, they feel that this is the best opportunity that’s going to drive value uplift for shareholders,” Shuttleworth told analysts.

“We believe that the current portfolio of assets in North America is substantially undervalued within Barrick, and by doing the North American IPO, we’ll be able to shine a light on that valuation, and that light will then translate into a re-rate for all Barrick shareholders.”

NewCo will hold Barrick’s joint venture interests in Nevada Gold Mines and Pueblo Viejo, as well as Barrick’s wholly owned Fourmile gold discovery in Nevada.

The company reported a doubling of Fourmile’s resource to 2.6 million ounces at 17.59 grams per tonne in the indicated category and 13Moz at 16.9g/t inferred.

Drilling spend will increase from US$91 million last year to US$150-160 million in 2026, with further resource growth expected.

Barrick intends to retain a controlling interest in NewCo following the IPO, with Hill indicating it could hold 85-90% of the new entity.

Management said it was too early to determine the amount to be raised, the management structure or where NewCo would be domiciled.

Barrick expects the IPO, which remains subject to market conditions, to be completed by the end of the year.

Record results

Barrick reported record quarterly operating cashflow of US$2.73 billion, up 13% quarter-on-quarter, and free cashflow of US$1.62 billion, up 9%.

Revenue was up 45% to US$6, while net earnings were US$2.41 billion and adjusted net earnings were US$1.75 billion.

The company reported its highest ever quarterly net earnings per share of US$1.43 and adjusted net earnings per share of US$1.04, up 88% and 79%, respectively, on the September quarter.

Gold production for the December quarter rose by 5% to 871,000 ounces at all-in sustaining costs of US$1581 per ounce, up 3%.

Q4 copper production rose by 13% to 62,000t at AISC of US$3.61 per pound, up 15%.

Full-year gold production fell by 17% to 3.26Moz, in line with guidance, while AISC was above guidance at US$1637/oz due to higher royalites and higher consumable prices, partially driven by tariff impacts.

Copper production for 2025 rose by 13% to 220,000t, in line with guidance, while AISC fell by 7% to US$3.20/lb, slightly above guidance.

Full-year revenue was up 31% to US$16.96 billion, operating cashflow was up 71% to US$7.69 billion and free cashflow jumped 194% to US$3.87 billion.

Net earnings were US$4.99 billion, up 133%, with earnings per share of US$2.93 per share, up 140%.

Adjusted net earnings for 2025 were US$4.14 billion, up 87%, or US$2.42 per share, up 92%.

The company realised proceeds of US$2.6 billion from the sale of non-core assets in 2025 and closed the year with US$6.71 billion in cash.

Guidance for 2026 was set at 2.9-3.25Moz of gold and 190,000-220,000t of copper.

AISC guidance is US$1760-1950/oz of gold and US$3.45-3.75/lb, based on metal prices of US$4500/oz of gold and US$5.50/lb of copper.

“Looking ahead, we enter 2026 with momentum, flexibility and a clear plan forward,” Hill said.

Dividend boosted

Barrick declared a quarterly dividend of US42c per share, a 140% quarter-on-quarter increase.

The company repurchased US$500 million of its shares in Q4, with 2025 buybacks totalling US$1.5 billion, representing about 3% of Barrick’s issued and outstanding shares.

Barrick returned a record US$2.39 billion to shareholders in 2025.

The company announced a new dividend policy, which targets a total payout of 50% of attributable free cashflow on an annualised basis, comprised of a fixed base quarterly dividend of US17.5c per share and a performance top-up component at each year end, based on the attributable free cashflow during the year.

The dividend paid in any given year may be higher or lower than the 50% target based on the strength of cashflow, capital needs, balance sheet considerations and other factors.

The company has suspended its buyback program.

Resources and reserves updated

Barrick reported December 31 gold reserves of 85Moz grading 0.98g/t gold, compared to 89Moz at 0.99g/t at the end of 2024.

Barrick’s attributable measured and indicated gold resources stand at 150Moz at 1.01g/t, along with inferred resources of 43Moz at 1g/t, which was lower than 2024 due to asset sales.

Attributable copper reserves remained at 18 million tonnes at 0.46%, while attributable measured and indicated copper resources were 24Mt at 0.39%, with a further 4.2Mt at 0.3% of inferred resources.

Year-end gold reserves and resources were calculated using a gold price assumption of US$1500/oz and US$2000/oz, increased from US$1400/oz and US$1900, respectively.

Copper reserves for Barrick-operated assets were estimated using a copper price assumption of US$3.25/lb, increased from US$3/lb, while resources were estimated using a price of US$4.50/lb, increased from US$4/lb.

Reko Diq under review

Barrick also revealed its Reko Diq copper-gold development project in Pakistan was under review.

“The board and the management are a little concerned about the security situation on the ground in Balochistan – there’s been some escalation in security events there,” Shuttleworth said.

“As you know, our primary focus on everything we do is the safety and security of our people.”

Al Jazeera reported on Thursday that Pakistan’s military had concluded a week-long security operation in Balochistan, claiming the deaths of 216 fighters in targeted offensives.

Phase one of Reko Diq, which is expected to produce 240,000t of copper and 297,000oz of gold per annum from 2028, has capital costs of US$5.6-6 billion.

The project is owned 50% by Barrick, 25% by three federal state-owned enterprises and 25% by the government of Balochistan, of which 15% is on a fully funded basis and 10% is on a free carried basis.

This week, the Export-Import Bank of the United States reiterated funding support of US$1.3 billion.

“Clearly, as part of the review, we’ve indicated to the lending consortium that we need to complete that before we can close the financing, so we’ll work through that, and then we’ll take it forward after that,” Shuttleworth said.