Gold stock Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) hit the mother lode today when word emerged that it got a new mining lease for a joint project in Papua New Guinea. The news was sufficiently attractive to investors that it sent shares spiking up over 4% in Friday afternoon’s trading.
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The word emerged that the New Porgera joint venture got a special mining lease that allows Barrick Gold to fire production back up therein. That mine has been mostly shuttered for “care and maintenance” for the last three years, but now, it’s about to come roaring back. In order to set up the move, Barrick Gold and the Papua New Guinea government had to establish mining development contracts as well as the successful conclusion of a “fiscal stability agreement.”
The news comes at an excellent time for Barrick Gold, who only yesterday offered up word about its gold production. Said production was up almost 3% sequentially, which was bolstered by excellent performance out of Nevada’s Cortez mines. But even as production was up, it wasn’t up as much as Barrick Gold was looking for. That loss, meanwhile, was largely attributed to some issues with equipment design at Pueblo Viejo, a mine found in the Dominican Republic. Yet, with gold prices rising, the end result is good news for Barrick Gold.
Is Barrick Gold a Buy, Sell, or Hold?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Strong Buy consensus rating on GOLD stock based on eight Buys and two Holds assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. Furthermore, the average GOLD price target of $22.10 per share implies 40.5% upside potential.
