Newmont Mining Releases Letter Sent To Barrick Gold Board

(RTTNews) - In response to the press release issued this morning by Barrick Gold Corp. (ABX, ABX.TO), Newmont Mining Corp. (NEM) released a letter it sent last week to the Board of Directors of Barrick.

In the letter dated on April 25, 2014, Newmont Mining said that over the past number of months, two companies have been working hard to find a basis on which they could merge and realize their combined strengths. While they were hopeful that they could achieve that goal, it has become evident to it over the past several weeks that the type of constructive, mutually respectful and partnership-oriented relationship necessary to realize the potential benefits of that combination does not yet exist.

"Our Board has met a number of times since we were twice told definitively last Thursday by your Co-Chairman that the process in which we had been engaged to find a basis to merge our two companies was "dead". As you would expect, that unilateral declaration made us question whether we actually shared the vision and values that are necessary to forge a successful new company. Notwithstanding that, we persevered," Newmont Mining said in the letter.

Newmont noted that its efforts to find consensus have been rejected out of hand repeatedly. And, as they contemplated further dialogue, they read in the continuing reporting of the transaction in the financial press a pointed characterization of company as "extremely bureaucratic and not shareholder-friendly."

"Nothing could be further from the truth. Moreover, none of this suggests that we have the mutual respect or shared values today that we believe are necessary for the enterprise that would result from the combination of our companies to realize its full potential," Newmont said.

It is, in fact, because of our deep commitment to our shareholders that we reluctantly have had to unanimously conclude that we need to put aside our attempts to resuscitate this initiative and should pursue our course as an independent company, Newmont said in the letter.

Earlier today, Canadian gold producer Barrick Gold Corp. said that the board of directors of smaller peer Newmont Mining have decided to terminate merger talks with it. Newmont's Board has determined that the interests of its shareholders will be best served by remaining independent.