Barrick: No Timetable For Acacia-Tanzania Tax Negotiations
(Kitco News) - Barrick Gold Corp. (NYSE, TSX: ABX) said progress has beenmade in tax negotiations involving the government of Tanzania and Acacia Mining and that the company is no longer setting atimetable for an agreement.
Barrick owns 63.9%of the shares in Acacia, which is listed on the London Stock Exchange and operatesindependently of Barrick.However, Barrick has been negotiating on behalf of Acacia. According to newsreports, Barrick previously said it was looking to provide an agreement to theAcacia board by the end of this month.
“Discussions between the governmentof Tanzania and Barrick are constructive,” Barrick said in a prepared statementreleased Sunday. “Progress has been made on the drafting of definitiveagreements necessary for the implementation of the proposed framework.
“In order to allow the process to continue in an orderly manner and without anarbitrary deadline, Barrick is not providing a timetable for the completion ofthe discussions at this time.”
Barrick saidthat should it conclude discussions with the government, any proposal would be sentto the independent committee of the Acacia board of directors for itsconsideration.
Tanzaniais looking to gain more revenues from mining in the country and last year hitits biggest miner, Acacia, a $190 billion bill for unpaid taxes, penalties andinterest, according to a Reuters report. Acacia denies wrongdoing. A ban onunprocessed ore went into effect in March 2017 and shares of Acacia havetumbled.
“The company has been supporting Barrick in its discussionswith the GoT [government of Tanzania], but has not been directly involved inthose discussions to date,” said a statement on Acacia’s website.
By Allen SykoraFor Kitco News
Follow @AllenSykora
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