Merger talks between Barrick Gold and Newmont Mining collapse

Merger talks between Barrick Gold Corp and Newmont Mining Corp to create a company with a market cap of around $35 billion, have collapsed, The Wall Street Journal yesterday reported, citing unnamed sources.

Barrick Gold and Newmont Mining, the world's two largest gold producers, recently held talks to merge and were planning to announce a deal as early as Tuesday, the report said.

The report did not say why the talks broke down nor did it give the financial terms of the proposed deal.

The merger of the largest and second-largest gold producers would have created a gold mining giantwith a combined market value of around $35 billion, and annual sales of $20.8 billion, with mines from Indonesia to Africa and throughout North and South America.

Both companies had also held talks to merge in 2008 and in 2010, but the discussions had broken down then also.

Barrick Gold, based in Toronto, has mines located in the US, Zambia, Chile, Dominican Republic, Argentina, Tanzania, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Australia, Papua New Guinea, and Peru.

As of 31 December 2013, the company had proven and probable mineral reserves of 104.1 million ounces of gold and 14.0 billion pounds of copper.

It has a market cap of $23.1 billion and annual sales of $12.5 billion.

With a market cap of $11.7 billion and annual sales of $8.3 billion, New York Stock Exchange-listed Newmont Mining has operations in the US, Australia, Peru, Indonesia, Ghana, New Zealand and Mexico.

The Colorado-based company has proven and probable gold reserves of approximately 88.4 million ounces.