Barrick sale of half of Veladero ‘credit positive’ – Moody’s

Canada’s Barrick Gold on Thursday announced the sale of half of its Veladero mine for $960-million, a move seen as credit positive for analysts at Moody’s Investors Service. "Barrick’s announced sale of half of its Veladero mine is credit positive because we expect some portions of the proceeds will be used to reduce debt given the company's debt reduction targets. Also, Barrick's plans to possibly jointly develop Pascua-Lama will reduce execution risk associated with the project, should Barrick proceed with its construction,” Moody’s VP and senior analyst Jamie Koutsoukis said in a statement to Mining Weekly Online.