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Zhong Lun Advises Barrick Gold Corporation on its Strategic Cooperation with Shandong Gold Group and Veladero Mine Co-development Project
Zhong Lun Advises Barrick Gold Corporation on its Strategic Cooperation with Shandong Gold Group and Veladero Mine Co-development Project
On April 6, 2017, the world’s largest gold miner Barrick Gold Corporation (“Barrick") and Shandong Gold Group (“Shandong Gold") successfully held the signing ceremony for their Strategic Cooperation & Veladero Mine Co-development Project. As a first step in the new partnership, Barrick transfers to Shandong Gold its 50% stake on Veladero Mine with a value of 960 million USD; As a second step, Barrick and Shandong Gold together will form a working group to explore the joint development of the Pascua-Lama deposit; As a third step, both companies will evaluate additional investment opportunities on the highly prospective El Indio Gold Belt on the border of Argentina and Chile.
Barrick Legal Cousel and the Chairman of Shandong Gold
For the last eight months, as Barrick’s PRC counsel, Zhong Lun has worked together with Davis Ward Philips & Vineberg LLP throughout the process in terms of transaction negotiation, legal/approval issue clarification and transaction documents preparation. ZL team is led by partner Audry (Hong) Li, as the project head counsel, and partner Kejun Guo and participated by associates including Wenhao (Aaron) Ding, Yingying Lin, Yue Xu and Xin Jin. Scott Yu’s team also provides legal support for the anti-trust approval in PRC. Other supporting agencies in this project include Norton Rose Fulbright, Citi, CIBC, KPMG etc.
The project is accorded with great importance and support from Shandong government. The Deputy Shandong Governor, directors of Shandong NDRC, MOFCOM and SASAC, as well as other government officials have met delegates from the two parties and attended the signing ceremony. Director of Shandong SASAC delivered speeches. Media like People.com and Chinanews.com also reported this event and said “Shandong Gold Opened the Door to the World’s Gold Mine".
Links to news coverage：
Reuters：http://www.reuters.com/article/us-barrick-gold-mine-shandong-gold-idUSKBN1780KW
中国新闻网：http://www.chinanews.com/cj/2017/04-06/8192807.shtml
人民网：http://yuqing.people.com.cn/n1/2017/0406/c210117-29192964.html
