I wrote an article some time ago about the strategies that some gold mining companies were undertaking to face the problem of mineral resources that are running out.
Some of these gold producers are transitioning production out of North America and in countries that are still rich in mineral resources while other gold mining companies are refining their technologies to better identify and target the metal from mineral deposits that are still open at depth.
One of the gold mining companies decisively moving steps forward in both directions is Barrick Gold Corp. (ABX, Financial). The biggest gold producer in the world will combine the adoption of innovative technologies at operations with the strategy of exploiting untapped mineral deposits through strategic cooperation with leading underground mining companies that have mineral resources in other continents. Concerning the latter, recently Barrick Gold reached an agreement of strategic cooperation with Chinese operator Shandong Gold Group Co. Ltd.
The introduction of innovative technologies will undoubtedly have a positive impact on the company’s business because they will considerably reduce operating costs as less effort will be required to extract one ounce of gold from deeper ore bodies and continue mining the precious metal at profit.
The introduction of innovative technologies will also shelter miners from another problem: the disruption that is coming to their industry.
Michelle Ash, Barrick Gold’s chief innovation officer, brought to the attention of people participating at the recent ideacity 2017 conference that took place in Toronto, the changes the innovative technology may bring to the industry and the impact on people.
The conference was an opportunity to join key players who came from diverse sectors as well as innovative ideas.
Ash spoke about the following topics:
- The disruption that is coming to the mining industry.
- The changes that the innovative technology will bring to the industry.
- How the technology is going to impact people.
The speech can be followed on this video.
Source: ideacity
During her speech, Ash provided attendees with pictures, and she shared some views about how the innovative technology might look.
Barrick Gold is trading at $15.61 per share with a market capitalization of $17.28 billion, a price-book (P/B) ratio of 2.12, a price-sales (P/S) ratio of 2.00 and an EV to EBITDA ratio of 4.87.
The Canadian gold stock lost 2.3% year to date.
The average target price is $21.01, and the recommendation rating is 2.5 out of 5.
Disclosure: I have no positions in Barrick Gold.
