Barrick presses on with asset sales in the face of gold’s rally

Barrick Gold plans to forge ahead with efforts to divest peripheral assets – starting with its stake in the Kalgoorlie Super Pit in Australia – even as surging gold prices spur the highest profit in three years. In its second-quarter earnings statement Wednesday, the world’s largest gold producer said it made $968-million in debt repayments this year, almost half its target, and will continue pursuing non-core asset sales. Earnings excluding one-time items matched analysts’ estimates, while net income was the highest since the first quarter of 2013.