Barrick Gold could sell Africa assets to Chinese bidder

Barrick Gold (ABX.NYSE, ABX.TSE) is in negotiations to sell its South African mining operations to China National Gold Group Corporation, The Wall Street Journal reported. Barrick cautioned that discussions were still at an early stage. China National Gold may purchase Barrick’s 73.9% stake in African Barrick Gold (ABG.LSE), Tanzania’s biggest gold producer and one of the top five on the continent. African Barrick Gold’s publicly-listed shares value the firm at around GBP1.37 billion (US$2.16 billion). The firm could net about GBP2-2.49 billion on the sale, according to Deustche Bank Analysts. “[Barrick has] made a massive loss on these investments [in African Barrick], so if the Chinese came in with a massive offer I think they’d bite their hand off,” said Cailey Barker, a mining analyst at Numis Securities.