Barrick Offers US$10 Million for Innovation to Unlock the Silver
20 September 2007 - 1:10AM
UK Regulatory
FOR: BARRICK GOLD CORPORATION
NYSE, TSX SYMBOL: ABX
September 19, 2007
Barrick Offers US$10 Million for Innovation to Unlock the Silver
TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Sept. 19, 2007) - Barrick Gold Corporation (TSX:ABX)(NYSE:ABX) today
challenged scientists worldwide, offering US$10 million to anyone who can unlock the silver from the
ore at its Veladero gold mine in Argentina.
Barrick's Unlock the Value program invites scientists, engineers and other inventors to solve a
scientific conundrum. Geologists have determined there are 180 million ounces of silver contained in
gold reserves in the ore at the Veladero mine in Argentina. Because the silver particles are
encapsulated in silica, current processing methods are recovering only 6.7% of the silver. The Unlock
the Value program invites proposals for an economically viable way to significantly increase silver
recovery from this type of ore.
For proposals judged to have merit, Barrick will fund research and development. For a technology that
is successfully implemented at Veladero, the company will pay a performance bonus of $10 million.
"This opportunity will appeal to chemists, metallurgists, physicists, engineers, or any inventor with
a new concept for improving silver recovery," said Greg Wilkins, President and CEO. "Experience in
mining is not required because we are looking for innovation and new approaches. The $10 million award
is a substantial incentive to spur creative thinking but, beyond that, Barrick will fund research and
development for proposals that have merit. Scientists sometimes have difficulty finding funding to
take their good ideas to the next level, so we believe this will be a welcome aspect of the program."
Interested researchers can register and submit proposals through a special website at
www.unlockthevalue.com. Preliminary proposals must be submitted by January 21, 2008, to be considered
for the next stage of proposal development. Proposals will be assessed by a team of experts and
evaluated on their technical viability and ability to be safely implemented at Veladero. Those judged
to have merit will be invited to submit a detailed proposal. If successful, they will go on to further
phases of development, testing and commercial evaluation.
Barrick's Veladero mine is located in San Juan Province, Argentina, about 320 kilometers northwest of
the city of San Juan in the highly prospective Frontera District. It is located at elevations of
between 4,000 and 4,850 meters above sea level, and comprises two open pits - Filo Federico to the
north and Amable to the south. Barrick invested about $540 million to construct the mine, creating
4,000 jobs during the construction phase and 800 full time jobs during operation. The mine opened in
October, 2005. In 2006, its first full year of production, Veladero produced 511,000 ounces of gold.
Barrick Gold Corporation is the world's preeminent gold mining company with 27 operating mines and
20,000 employees worldwide. Headquartered in Toronto, Canada, Barrick's vision is to be the world's
best gold company by finding, acquiring, developing and producing quality reserves in a safe,
profitable and socially responsible manner.
A Video News Release from the announcement event can be accessed at
http://www.f8films.com/client/unlockthevalue/ by 5:00 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, September 19.
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FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:
Barrick Gold Corporation
INVESTOR CONTACT: Deni Nicoski
Vice President, Investor Relations
(416) 307-7410
Email: dnicoski@barrick.com
OR
Barrick Gold Corporation
MEDIA CONTACT: Vincent Borg
Senior Vice President, Corporate Communications
(416) 307-7477
Email: vborg@barrick.com
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