Canada's Barrick Gold confident of 2008 output target Mon Apr 7, 2008 9:48pm EDT Print This Article[-] Text [+] By Daryl Loo
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Canada's Barrick Gold Corp (ABX.TO: Quote), the world's biggest gold miner, said on Tuesday it was confident that it could meet its 2008 gold output target of up to 8.1 million ounces.
Barrick, which has 27 operating mines, produced 8.06 million ounces in 2007 and said it expects to produce 7.6 to 8.1 million ounces of gold and 380 to 400 million pounds of copper this year.
"We have full confidence of meeting our guidance for 2008," Barrick Executive Vice President Alexander Davidson told Reuters on the sidelines of a mining conference. "We are very bullish on gold and we expect it to certainly stay above the $900 level."
Davidson said the firm hopes to grow by investments and acquisitions in Asia.
"One of the reasons I'm here in Asia is to look at some of the projects that will be highlighted at this conference."
Barrick on March 27 signed a letter of intent to acquire 4.7 percent of gold miner Allied Gold Ltd (ALD.AX: Quote) for A$15 million ($14 million), and spend up to A$20 million on a 70 percent stake in two of Allied's undeveloped gold mines in Papua New Guinea.
In February, it announced it would pay $1.7 billion to buy out Rio Tinto's (RIO.L: Quote) 40 percent stake in their Cortez joint venture in Nevada, acquiring ownership of the potential million-ounce-a-year gold mining project.
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