Barrick cuts 100 corporate positions, mostly in Toronto, in ongoing streamlining

TORONTO – Barrick Gold Inc. (TSX:ABX) is cutting about 100 jobs representing about 30 per cent of the total corporate office positions for the Toronto-based mining company.

The cuts are a small portion of the 25,000 employees that Barrick has worldwide but represent its ongoing efforts to streamline during a period of falling gold prices and company-specific challenges.

Most of the corporate jobs are at Barrick’s head office in Toronto, but some are at its regional offices.

The company advised staff last week that the cuts were coming.

An email from Barrick’s spokesman says staff at a Barrick office in Salt Lake City, Utah, may be affected but the majority of the corporate positions are in Toronto.

The company’s chief executive promised shareholders in April that Barrick was committed to be focus on producing returns for investors.

Barrick also said its capital spending would be reduced to between $5.2 billion and $5.7 billion _ down from the previous budget of $5.7 billion to $6.3 billion.

Barrick has reduced exploration spending to a range of between $300 million and $340 million, which is $100 million lower than before.