Barrick-Newmont fling ends in acrimony

It’s gotta rank right up with the worst "first dates" in recent mining history: the proposed merger between gold titans Barrick Gold and Newmont Mining broke off a week after it was made public through media reports in April, and then things soured with a flurry of rival press releases pinning the blame on the other party for the breakdown.

Barrick and Newmont executives had gone so far as to negotiate a term sheet for a merger that was signed by both parties on April 8, after months of private negotiations. It’s a deal that hearkened back to 2005-06 – the era of the growth for growth’s sake mega-merger – and would have been the biggest merger in the history of gold mining.

But by April 28, merger discussions were officially terminated.

It didn’t stop there, however …

Read the entire editorial at NorthernMiner.com/news/editorial-barrick-newmont