Barrick Gold Corp to lay off up to a third of corporate staff as gold slump bites
Euan Rocha, Reuters | 13/06/24 | Last Updated: 13/06/26 4:27 PM ET
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The sources said Jamie Sokalsky, a long-time Barrick hand who took over as CEO barely a year ago, was visibly emotional during the mid-week town hall meeting with employees.
National PostThe sources said Jamie Sokalsky, a long-time Barrick hand who took over as CEO barely a year ago, was visibly emotional during the mid-week town hall meeting with employees.
TORONTO — The world’s largest gold mining company has announced plans to eliminate 100 jobs at its corporate headquarters in Toronto.
Barrick Gold Corp. said Monday the reduction represents 30% of the head office. Barrick spokesman Andy Lloyd cited a challenging business environment. Falling gold prices, rising costs and as sagging stock price have plagued the company. Since late 2011, the gold price has fallen by $600 — over 30%. The company announced last week it planned to reduce its workforce by 55 positions in Nevada and Utah. The company has 25,000 employees worldwide.
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Lloyd says impacted employees will receive severance packages and access to career placement services. The reduction follows a thorough review of the company’s organizational structure that was prompted by the change in business conditions.
Barrick and miners such as Newmont Mining and Newcrest Mining are shaking up operations and taking measures like shutting down development projects, slashing exploration spending and cutting jobs due to the sliding gold price.
The cuts were announced by Barrick’s Chief Executive Jamie Sokalsky at a town hall meeting with staff in Toronto last week, said sources, who asked not to be named as they are not officially authorized to speak about the matter.
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One source said this is the first ever round of across-the-board layoffs for the company at its corporate headquarters in Toronto. Besides the falling gold price, it is also facing operational and regulatory issues at some of its mines and projects.
Barrick has over 400 people working as corporate staff with the vast majority of those located in Toronto, said the sources.
The sources said Sokalsky, a long-time Barrick hand who took over as CEO barely a year ago, was visibly emotional during the mid-week town hall meeting with employees. He declined to take any questions from employees and informed staff that their direct managers would respond to their questions.
The company, which has roughly 25,000 employees across the globe, is also in the process of cutting jobs at a number of its mine sites. Last week, it announced that it was cutting about 50 employees at its operations in the United States, and earlier this month it announced a few dozen cuts in Australia.
Gold extended last week’s 7% drop on Monday, hurt by a stronger dollar and worries over an early end to U.S. Federal Reserve stimulus.
Spot gold, which peaked at over $1,900 an ounce in late 2011, was trading at $1,290 an ounce by 0430 GMT on Monday, not far from a near-three year low touched last week.
Earlier this month, Newmont announced that it would be cutting its workforce at its home base in Denver, Colorado, by at least 33% over the coming three months. And Australia gold producer Newcrest said it would write down its asset values by about $6 billion.
Barrick’s own share price has been pummeled amid the slump in gold, soaring capital expenditure costs at its huge Pascua Lama project on the border of Chile and Argentina, and setbacks at its copper mines in Zambia and Saudi Arabia.
Its shares, which have more than halved in value over the course of the last year, are trading at around a 20-year low on the Toronto Stock Exchange. They closed at $17.71 on the TSX on Friday.
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