Barrick Gold To Sell 50% Stake In Zaldivar Mine To Antofagasta For $1.005 Bln

(RTTNews) - Barrick Gold Corp. (ABX, ABX.TO) said that it has reached an agreement to sell a 50 percent interest in the Zaldivar copper mine in Chile to Mining company Antofagasta Plc (ANFGY, ANTO.L) for a total consideration of $1.005 billion in cash, forming a new partnership with one of the world's leading copper companies.

Antofagasta will pay Barrick $980 million in cash upon closing and $25 million in additional cash payments over the next five years for a 50 percent stake in the Zaldivar mine.

The transaction is expected to be completed in late 2015 and is subject to customary closing conditions.

Under the new ownership structure, Zaldivar will have a joint Barrick-Antofagasta Board of Directors consisting of three Barrick nominees and three Antofagasta nominees.

Antofagasta will act as the operator of the mine and will be subject to oversight and direction by the Board. The initial Chairman of the Board will be appointed by Antofagasta and will hold the office of Chairman until January 1, 2017, at which point the right to appoint the Chairman will rotate between the parties on an annual basis on January 1 of each year.