PDAC: ‘M&A is back,’ says Barrick’s Catherine Raw

Last year was the busiest year for mergers and acquisitions in the precious metals sector since 2010, Catherine Raw, the executive responsible for Barrick Gold‘s (TSX: ABX; NYSE: GOLD) North America region, told a luncheon at the Prospectors & Developers Association in Toronto on Monday. Over the last eighteen months, the market has witnessed the $5 billion merger of Randgold Resources and Barrick Gold; the $13 billion joint-venture between Barrick and Newmont (NYSE: NEM) in Nevada; and Newmont’s $12.5 billion takeover of Goldcorp, along with 27 other transactions in the space, she said. “These aren’t mega in the broader market but they’re mega in our industry,” Raw said. “What we’ve seen is a pick-up in activity that is really quite remarkable. That consolidation will continue and I believe it will spread into the mining industry as a whole because they are facing many of the same challenges that the gold industry is facing.” Continue reading at The Northern Miner.