China strikes gold in rare M&A deal

In purchasing half of Barrick Gold’s Veladero mine for $960 million, Shandong Gold took advantage of a rare chance to buy a world-class sizeable mine.

But this is just the start of their relationship the new partners will go on to explore the Pascua-Lama deposit and then other mines in the El Indio Gold Belt on the border of Argentina and Chile, including the Alturas project.

Despite coming from the world’s largest consumer of the yellow metal, Chinese miners are dwarfed in an industry dominated by the Canadians.

Gold mines tend to be smaller than coal and copper mines, where China has made its...