Oct 12, 2009 08:55:31 (ET)

Canadian mine operator Barrick Gold Corp. (ABX) said Monday that it would buy a 70% stake in a Chile gold-copper project for $456 million. The El Morro mine, located near the country's Atacama region, is operated by Xstrata Copper Chile SA, a fully-owned subsidiary of Xstrata PLC (XTA.LN). The other 30% of the project is owned by New Gold Inc. (NGD). New Gold has until Jan. 11 to approve or reject Barrick's bid to the stake. Xstrata expects about 8.3 million ounces of gold and 6.3 million pounds of copper to come from the project. Shares of Barrick were up less than 1% in recent premarket action to $39.75.