I thought borrowing big bucks was next to impossible. Nice to have friends in high places it looks like. At least with that kind of debt load, maybe we can scratch off Barrick's name from the list of hungry wolves out there looking to feast on some easy prey.

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Barrick Plans to Get $1 Billion Loan for New Mine (Update2)
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By Stewart Bailey

Dec. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Barrick Gold Corp., the world’s biggest gold producer, said negotiations for a $1 billion loan to help pay for development of its Pueblo Viejo deposit in the Dominican Republic may be concluded by the middle of next year.

“We have in place a strong syndicate of global lenders, including international financial institutions, export credit agencies and some commercial banks,” Chief Financial Officer Jamie Sokalsky said today at a conference in Toronto, where the company is based. “Detailed negotiations are on track, and we’re on track to access financing, targeting $1 billion, somewhere in the first half of 2009.”

Barrick and Goldcorp Inc. jointly own the 22 million-ounce gold deposit, which they have said may cost $2.7 billion to develop and will produce its first metal in the second half of 2011. The project is one of three new mines being dug by the company, with another in Tanzania and a third in Nevada.

Each of those new developments is on schedule and on budget, Sokalsky said.

Barrick rose C$1.86, or 5.7 percent, to C$34.51 at 4:21 p.m. in Toronto Stock Exchange trading. The shares have dropped 17 percent this year, giving the company a market value of C$30.1 billion ($24 billion).

To contact the reporter on this story: Stewart Bailey in New York at sbailey7@bloomberg.net.
Last Updated: December 2, 2008 16:37 EST