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Thanks.

Thanks Bill. For those investing in miners, this information is quite literally gold.

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Mike
NYC

UPDATE 2-Lots more upside to gold price, Barrick CFO says
Tue Dec 12, 2006 3:50 PM ET

(Adds further details, stock price. In U.S. dollars unless noted)

TORONTO, Dec 12 (Reuters) - Barrick Gold Corp.'s chief financial officer said on Tuesday that the fundamentals for the price of gold remain strong.

"I think we've got a lot more upside on the gold price. I certainly can see the highs that we had earlier this year being taken out," said Jamie Sokalsky in an interview.

"I think the supply-demand fundamentals that are there are very supportive to gold. There is certainly no shortage of geopolitical tensions around the world and the U.S. dollar has gotten weaker and the outlook for it is for continued weakness."

In May this year, the price of gold reached a high of $730 an ounce. The price has since dropped and was around $628 an ounce on Tuesday afternoon.

Gold is often seen as a safe haven by investors and the price usually rises as the U.S. dollar weakens, making dollar-priced gold less expensive in other currencies.

Barrick, the world's biggest gold producer, is also open to more copper assets. The company inherited copper operations through its acquisition of Placer Dome earlier this year and is on track to produce about 370 million pounds of copper.

"We would be amenable to additional copper, as part of additional gold assets," said Sokalsky.

"We are really focused on gold, and a number of deposits that exist in the world are copper-gold porphyries. We would really like to have gold, and if copper came along with that, that would be fine with us."

Barrick is already taking advantage of the potential cash flow generated from its copper production by introducing copper-linked notes. Barrick sold $1 billion in notes that will be paid back over three years by selling about 324 million pounds of copper at about $3.08 a pound.

On COMEX, copper was trading at $3.09 a pound on Tuesday,

"We felt that it was prudent for us to lock in prices that are three times the long-term average and it was a key component of a long-term financing strategy," said Sokalsky.

Even though the outlook for copper remains strong, Sokalsky points out that the bulk of Barrick's revenue comes from gold and that only a third of its copper is being hedged over three years.

Companies typically hedge more when they think prices for their commodities are in long-term decline, but like full exposure to a rising market.

Proceeds from the debt offering will be used to prefinance some existing debt and fund development projects like Pascua Lama, Pueblo Viejo and Cortez Hills.

When asked if Barrick will continue to hedge some of its copper to fund development projects, Sokalsky said "it's a possibility."

"We don't have any current plans. We will reassess it based on our levels of liquidity, where the commodity prices are. It is another arrow in our quiver in terms of how we are going to finance the projects."

Shares of Barrick eased 23 Canadian cents to C$34.68 on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

($1=$1.15 Canadian)