TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Feb. 15, 2017) - Barrick Gold Corporation (NYSE:ABX)(TSX:ABX)
All amounts expressed in U.S. dollars

For 2016, Barrick reported net earnings attributable to equity holders of Barrick ("net earnings") of $655 million ($0.56 per share), and adjusted net earnings1 of $818 million ($0.70 per share).
The Company reported annual revenues of $8.56 billion, net cash provided by operating activities ("operating cash flow") of $2.64 billion, and free cash flow2 of $1.51 billion.
Full year gold production was 5.52 million ounces. Cost of sales applicable to gold was $798 per ounce, and all-in sustaining costs3 were $730 per ounce.
Barrick reported fourth quarter net earnings of $425 million ($0.36 per share), and adjusted net earnings1 of $255 million ($0.22 per share).
Fourth quarter revenue was $2.32 billion; operating cash flow was $711 million, and free cash flow2 was $385 million.
Gold production in the fourth quarter was 1.52 million ounces, at a cost of sales applicable to gold of $784 per ounce, and all-in sustaining costs3 of $732 per ounce.
Proven and probable gold reserves were 85.9 million ounces4 as of December 31, 2016.
For 2017, production guidance is 5.60-5.90 million ounces of gold, at a cost of sales applicable to gold of $780-$820 per ounce, and all-in sustaining costs3 of $720-$770 per ounce.
We intend to reduce our total debt by $2.9 billion, to $5 billion, by the end of 2018 – half of which we are targeting in 2017.
The Board of Directors has approved an increase in our quarterly dividend from $0.02 per share to $0.03 per share.
Operations and Technical Update will be webcast on February 22 at www.barrick.com. Please join us for additional technical insights on our operations, projects, and other priorities.
Barrick Gold Corporation (NYSE:ABX)(TSX:ABX) ("Barrick" or the "Company") reported annual results that exceeded the Company's key targets for the year. In 2016, our mines generated operating cash flow of $2.64 billion, and free cash flow2 of $1.51 billion – a record level of annual free cash flow for the Company. We reduced our cost of sales applicable to gold to $798 per ounce, and our all-in sustaining costs3 fell by 12 percent, to $730 per ounce. We continued to strengthen our balance sheet, cutting our total debt by $2.04 billion, or 20 percent. And we brought greater discipline and rigor to our capital allocation process with the appointment of the Company's first-ever Chief Investment Officer.

STRATEGIC FRAMEWORK

Our vision is the generation of wealth through responsible mining – wealth for our owners, our people, and the countries and communities with which we partner. In support of this vision, our overarching objective is to grow our free cash flow per share.

We are cultivating a high-performance culture defined by the following principles: a deep commitment to partnership, consistent execution, operational excellence, disciplined capital allocation, and continual self-improvement. We are obsessed with talent, and seek out fresh perspectives from other industries, challenging ourselves to think differently as we aim to transform Barrick into a leading 21st century company.

We will grow free cash flow per share over the long term by: maintaining and growing industry-leading margins, increasingly driven by innovation and our digital transformation; by managing our portfolio and allocating capital with discipline and rigor; and by leveraging our distinctive partnership culture as a competitive advantage.

Our prospects for growing free cash flow per share build on a foundation of core mines that are among the longest-life, lowest-cost gold operations in the world. We have the largest gold reserves and resources in the industry5, including a deep pipeline of projects that provide extraordinary optionality and leverage to gold prices. Our exploration programs have a demonstrated track record of value creation. And we are evaluating acquisitions and partnerships with the potential to improve the overall quality of our portfolio over the long term.

GROWING FREE CASH FLOW PER SHARE THROUGH INDUSTRY-LEADING MARGINS

Through our Best-in-Class approach, we pursue industry-leading margins by continuously improving the productivity and efficiency of existing systems and operations. Equally, we pursue step changes in performance by re-designing those systems and introducing new technologies; and we innovate to redefine what is possible.

As one example, we are pursuing step changes in performance in Nevada by fully integrating the Cortez and Goldstrike operations. Over the past two years, these mines have benefited from increasing collaboration, including joint metal planning to optimize ore processing. By fully integrating the management of their assets, infrastructure, and expertise, we expect to further accelerate improvements in efficiency and productivity. For example, we will fully integrate processing operations and create an integrated digital operations management center that will serve both mines – all under a single, site-based leadership structure. We will also develop an integrated strategic plan for the combined operation that optimizes site resources and capital spending to maximize long-term value creation.

Our digital transformation will be another Best-in-Class priority for 2017. Since announcing our partnership with Cisco in September, we have completed proofs of concept for digital projects at Cortez, our pilot digital operation, and we are now implementing them in the field. This work is supported from our digital innovation center in Elko, Nevada, where frontline operators are working with software programmers and other external partners to develop customized digital solutions.

The integration of Cortez and Goldstrike will also allow us to further accelerate the implementation and impact of digital transformation in Nevada. As we continue to demonstrate value in the field, we intend to expand digital solutions to other Barrick operations, starting at Veladero, with a focus on digital environmental management systems. We will provide further updates on digital projects during our Operations and Technical Update on February 22.

While today's digital technologies are already helping to improve the productivity and efficiency of our operations, in 2017 we will develop a long-term innovation strategy to redefine what is possible in mining, including an innovation road map for the Company.

GROWING FREE CASH FLOW PER SHARE THROUGH SUPERIOR PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT

In 2016, we continued to strengthen our investment review and capital allocation process with the appointment of Mark Hill as the Company's first Chief Investment Officer. Mr. Hill was Head of Mining and led the Evaluations group at Waterton Global Resource Management, a private investement firm with an outstanding track record of capital allocation – expertise he combines with earlier experience at Barrick. The Chief Investment Officer is responsible for ensuring that a high degree of consistency and rigor is applied to all capital allocation decisions at the Company – whether at existing operations, development projects, exploration (both near-mine and greenfields), or potential acquisitions and divestments. As part of our revamped capital allocation system, all proposals go through a rigorous, independent peer review process led by our Evaluations team, before they go to the Investment Committee. They are then ranked, prioritized, and sequenced to optimize capital spending over time on a strategic basis, allowing us to anticipate and plan for funding requirements.

We expect our portfolio to deliver a 10-15 percent return on invested capital through metal price cycles and, as such, all new capital spending is measured against a hurdle rate of 15 percent based on the Company's long-term gold price assumption of $1,200 per ounce. Over time, assets that are unable to meet our return expectations will be divested. We are also continuously evaluating external opportunities to increase the long-term value of our portfolio through acquisitions, joint ventures, and other partnerships.

GROWING FREE CASH FLOW PER SHARE THROUGH PARTNERSHIPS

We believe an authentic partnership culture is our most distinctive and sustainable competitive advantage. For Barrick, partnership means a trust-based culture, and the currency of trust is transparency. It is a culture of peers. Those who are part of Barrick recognize that in general, the collective is stronger than the aggregation of individuals. By embracing these values, we aim to be the preferred partner of host governments and communities, the most sought-after employer among the world's best talent, and the natural choice for long-term investors.

Last year, we created a program to make every Barrick employee – from the rock face to the head office – an owner of the Company, with an initial allocation of 25 common shares per person. We expect this to grow over time, in line with Barrick's performance. Our goal is not simply to be aligned with our owners, we want our people to be owners.

We also created a new partnership with Cisco to drive Barrick's digital transformation. Working with Cisco and other technology partners, we have begun to develop our flagship digital operation at the Cortez mine in Nevada – embedding digital technology in every dimension of the mine to deliver better, faster, and safer mining. This transformation will improve not only productivity and efficiency, but also environmental and safety performance – which will allow Barrick to build and maintain greater trust with communities, governments, NGOs, and other partners.

We continue to strengthen our relationships with other external partners, including Zijin Mining, Ma'aden, and Antofagasta Plc – our joint venture partners at the Porgera, Jabal Sayid, and Zaldívar mines. And we are working to develop new partnerships with the potential to unlock value across our business, and grow free cash flow per share over the long term.

OUTLOOK 2017-2019

In 2017, we expect to produce 5.60-5.90 million ounces of gold, at a cost of sales applicable to gold of $780-$820 per ounce, and all-in sustaining costs3 of $720-$770 per ounce. This represents an improvement over our previous 2017 guidance of 5.0-5.5 million ounces of gold, at all-in sustaining costs3 of $740-$790 per ounce. As we did last year, our intention is to improve upon our plans as we advance our digital transformation, and other Best-in-Class initiatives.

For 2017, we are once again targeting a free cash flow breakeven gold price of $1,000 per ounce, which should ensure that we can generate cash in periods of lower gold prices, while generating a windfall when gold prices rise.

For 2018, we expect to produce 4.80-5.30 million ounces of gold, at a cost of sales applicable to gold of $790-$840 per ounce, and all-in sustaining costs3 of $710-$770 per ounce.

In 2019, we expect to produce 4.60-5.10 million ounces of gold, at a cost of sales applicable to gold of $800-$870 per ounce, and all-in sustaining costs3 of $700-$770 per ounce.

Based on our current asset mix and subject to potential divestments, we expect to maintain annual production of at least 4.5 million ounces of gold through 2021.

Please see page 11 for detailed operating and capital expenditure guidance. The table found in the appendix at the end of this press release outlines the material assumptions used to develop the forward-looking statements in our outlook and guidance, and provides an economic sensitivity analysis of those assumptions. For certain related risk factors, please see the cautionary statement on forward-looking information at the end of this press release.

FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS

Full-year net earnings were $655 million ($0.56 per share), compared to a net loss of $2.84 billion ($2.44 per share) in 2015. In 2016, adjusted net earnings1 were $818 million ($0.70 per share), compared to $344 million ($0.30 per share) in 2015.

This significant improvement in earnings was largely due to $3.9 billion of impairment charges recorded in 2015, compared to net impairment reversals of $250 million recorded in 2016. Higher earnings were also driven by higher gold and copper prices, combined with higher sales volumes (excluding the impact of divested sites), lower operating costs, and lower expenses for exploration, evaluation, and projects.

After adjusting for items that are not indicative of future operating earnings, adjusted net earnings1 of $818 million in 2016 were 138 percent higher than in 2015. This improvement was primarily due to higher gold and copper prices, higher gold and copper sales volumes (excluding the impact of divested sites), and lower operating costs.

Significant adjusting items to net earnings (pre-tax and non-controlling interest effects) in 2016 include:

$199 million in foreign currency translation losses, including deferred currency translation losses released as a result of the disposal and reorganization of certain Australian entities in the first quarter of 2016, and unrealized foreign currency translation losses related to the devaluation of the Argentine Peso on VAT receivables;
$114 million in other expense adjustments primarily relating to losses on debt extinguishment, partly offset by insurance proceeds relating to the 2015 oxygen plant motor failure at Pueblo Viejo;
$43 million in significant tax adjustments primarily relating to a tax provision in Acacia in the first quarter of 2016;
$42 million in disposition losses primarily relating to the divestment of 50 percent of Zaldívar;
The above are partially offset by $250 million in net impairment reversals at Veladero and Lagunas Norte in the fourth quarter of 2016, net of an impairment charge relating to the write down of our retained equity method investment in Zaldívar.
Full-year revenues were $8.56 billion, compared to $9.03 billion in 2015. Operating cash flow in 2016 was $2.64 billion, compared to $2.79 billion in 2015. Free cash flow2 for 2016 was $1.51 billion, compared to $471 million6 in 2015.

Excluding the proceeds of the Pueblo Viejo streaming transaction in 2015, operating cash flow for 2016 was $456 million higher than the prior year, despite a $355 million reduction in operating cash flow associated with the divestment of non-core assets. Strong operating cash flow was driven by higher gold prices and lower direct mining costs, as a result of lower energy and fuel costs (despite being hedged on a significant portion of our fuel consumption), combined with lower labor, consumable, and contractor costs, and improved operating efficiencies driven by Best-in-Class initiatives, as well as lower cash interest paid.

Fourth quarter net earnings were $425 million ($0.36 per share), compared to a net loss of $2.62 billion ($2.25 per share) in the prior-year period. Adjusted net earnings1 for the fourth quarter were $255 million ($0.22 per share), compared to $91 million ($0.08 per share) in the prior-year period.

Net earnings in the fourth quarter reflect an increase in realized gold and copper prices, and lower cost of sales, in addition to $146 million (net of tax effects and non-controlling interests) in net impairment reversals, compared to impairment charges of $2.6 billion (net of tax effects and non-controlling interests) recorded in the fourth quarter of 2015.

Fourth quarter revenues were $2.32 billion, compared to $2.24 billion in the prior-year period. Operating cash flow in the fourth quarter was $711 million, compared to $698 million in the fourth quarter of 2015. Free cash flow2 for the fourth quarter was $385 million, compared to $387 million in the prior year period.

RESTORING A STRONG BALANCE SHEET

Achieving and maintaining a strong balance sheet remains a top priority. In 2016, we reduced our total debt by $2.04 billion, or 20 percent, slightly exceeding our $2 billion target for the year.

At the end of the fourth quarter, Barrick had a consolidated cash balance of approximately $2.4 billion.7 Barrick has less than $200 million in debt due before 2019.8 About $5 billion, or 63 percent of our outstanding total debt of $7.9 billion, does not mature until after 2032.

We intend to reduce our total debt by $2.9 billion, to $5 billion, by the end of 2018 – half of which we are targeting in 2017. We will achieve this by using cash flow from operations, selling additional non-core assets, and creating new joint ventures and partnerships.

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Barrick Gold Corp TSX:ABX 10:44 26.74 CAD +1.46 +5.78%