You are here
Barrick Gold ousts CEO Aaron Regent
From the Canadian Press
via CBC News, Toronto
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/story/2012/06/06/barick-gold-ceo.html
Barrick Gold Corp. has abruptly replaced its chief executive and installed a former U.S. investment banker as co-chairman of its board of directors, saying they will help the company restore its lacklustre stock price.
Jamie Sokalsky, who was the Toronto-based company's chief financial officer, has replaced Aaron Regent as Barrick's chief executive and president -- effective immediately.
At the board of directors, John Thornton -- a former president of Goldman Sachs, the U.S. investment banking giant -- will join Barrick founder Peter Munk as co-chairman.
Munk, 84, who is one of Canada's best-known businessmen, issued a statement thanking Regent for his efforts but making it clear they weren't enough.
... Dispatch continues below ...
Prophecy Platinum (TSXV:NKL) Announces Encouraging Rhodium, Ruthenium, Osmium,
Iridium Assays from WS11-188 of Wellgreen Project in Yukon Territory, Canada
Company Press Release
May 25, 2012
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Canada -- Prophecy Platinum Corp. (TSX-V: NKL; OTC-QX: PNIKF; Frankfurt: P94P) is pleased to provide results of full spectrum 6E (Platinum, Palladian, Rhodium, Ruthenium, Osmium, and Iridium) analysis of platinum group elements on the first batch of samples from the company's wholly-owned Wellgreen PGM-Ni-Cu project in the Yukon Territory, Canada.
The company enlisted Activation Laboratories (Actlabs) of Ancaster, Ontario, to conduct a full-spectrum 6E analysis of samples taken from the 2011 drill hole WS11-188. Adding Rh, Ru, Os, and Ir to Pt and Pd increased the total PGE content (6E) by an average of 28 percent, based on a population of 90 samples, most of which are from disseminated sulphide-type mineralization.
Assay results with 6E exceeding 0.50 ppm (0.5 g/t) (excluding copper and gold assays) are tabulated at Prophecy's Internet site and are available with assay results from the entire batch of 90 samples here:
http://prophecyplat.com/news_2012_may25_prophecy_platinum_announces_rare...
"We are fully committed to maximizing shareholder value, but have been disappointed with our share price performance," Munk said.
Barrick stock closed Tuesday at $43.70, down sharply from its 52-week high of $55.36. While the price of gold has declined from record highs, many analysts have said shares of gold companies including Barrick underperformed the metal.
Munk is often blunt in his public appraisals of Barrick's top executives and, characteristically, he told shareholders at the company's annual meeting last month that the company's share price wasn't satisfactory.
"There are many reasons for it, but not to face up to it and not to talk about it would be the gravest mistake a board and management and people responsible for the welfare of this company could do," Munk said at the time.
Regent, who joins several other Barrick CEOs who have been abruptly replaced over the years, had been Barrick's top executive since January 2009. He had been previously co-chief executive of the Brookfield Infrastructure Group.
Munk said the board of directors has confidence in Sokolsky's experience and commitment.
Sokolsky joined Barrick in 1993 and has been the company's chief financial officer since 1999. Prior to joining the mining company, he had been an executive at Canadian food processing company George Weston Ltd. for 10 years.
Regarding Thornton's elevation to the role of co-chairman, Munk said "John's knowledge and experience of global business affairs are truly exceptional and we are all fortunate that he has agreed to take on this important role."
Besides his role at Barrick, Thornton is also chairman of The Brookings Institution -- a U.S. think tank -- and holds degrees from Harvard College, Oxford University, and the Yale School of Management.
* * *
Join GATA here:
Standard Chartered's Earth Resources Conference
Wednesday-Thursday, June 20-21, 2012
J.W. Marriott, Hong Kong
http://www.standardcharteredsignatureevents.com/earths-resources/welcome...
Hong Kong Gold Investment Forum
Monday-Wednesday, June 25-27, 2012
Renaissance Harbour View Hotel, Hong Kong
http://www.hkgoldinvestmentforum.com/
Toronto Resource Investment Conference
Thursday-Friday, September 27-28, 2012
Toronto Sheraton Centre Hotel
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
http://www.cambridgehouse.com/event/toronto-resource-investment-conference
New Orleans Investment Conference
Wednesday-Saturday, October 24-27, 2012
Hilton New Orleans Riverside Hotel
New Orleans, Louisiana
http://www.neworleansconference.com/
* * *
Support GATA by purchasing DVDs of our London conference in August 2011 or our Dawson City conference in August 2006:
http://www.goldrush21.com/order.html
Or by purchasing a colorful GATA T-shirt:
Or a colorful poster of GATA's full-page ad in The Wall Street Journal on January 31, 2009:
http://gata.org/node/wallstreetjournal
Help keep GATA going
GATA is a civil rights and educational organization based in the United States and tax-exempt under the U.S. Internal Revenue Code. Its e-mail dispatches are free, and you can subscribe at:
To contribute to GATA, please visit:
Sona Discovers Potential High-Grade Gold Mineralization
at Blackdome in British Columbia -- 13.6g over 1.5 Meters
From a Company Press Release
November 22, 2011
VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- With its latest surface diamond drilling program at its 100-percent-owned, formerly producing Blackdome gold mine in southern British Columbia, Sona Resources Corp. has discovered a potentially high-grade gold-mineralized area, with one hole intersecting 13.6 grams of gold in 1.5 meters of core drilling.
"We intersected a promising new mineralized zone, and we feel optimistic about the assay results," says Sona's president and CEO, John P. Thompson. "We have undertaken an aggressive exploration program that has tested a number of target zones. Our discovery of this new gold-bearing structure is significant, and it represents a positive development for the company."
Sona aims to bring its permitted Blackdome mill back into production over the next year and a half, at a rate of 200 tonnes per day, with feed from the formerly producing Blackdome mine and the nearby Elizabeth gold deposit property. A positive preliminary economic assessment by Micon International Ltd., based on a gold price of $950 per ounce over eight years, has estimated a cash cost of $208 per tonne milled, or $686 per gold ounce recovered.
For the company's complete press release, please visit:
http://www.sonaresources.com/_resources/news/SONA_NR18_2011-opt.pdf
