The New Partner
However, the decision on whether the continue with the project also depends on other factors. One of those is containing project costs, that had risen previous to the stoppage to U$8.5Bn, although the industry says that when Barrick stopped all construction at the end of October internally they were talking about U$10Bn.
Under this scenario, when at the same time the mining industry in Canada is not going through a strong financial period, the figure of a new partner to help pay for the investment seems necessary and even more so when the current problematic environmental backdrop could make debt financing difficult.
Sources close to the company say that after several months of parallel negotiation with two Chinese investment partners, Barrick has not managed to close an agreement with either.