The Barrick Mining booth at the PDAC convention in Toronto in March. The mining company held its annual general meeting on May 8 but disclosed the results on May 14.Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail
Barrick Mining Corp. ABX-T took six days to disclose the voting results at its annual general meeting after running into unspecified technical problems.
The Toronto-based mining company held its AGM on May 8 but disclosed the results on May 14.
Canada’s second-biggest gold company by market value, Barrick has routinely in the past disclosed the results promptly after the AGM, usually on the same day.
Joe Heckendorn, senior vice-president and corporate secretary with Barrick, said in an e-mail to The Globe and Mail that the delay was “due to technical issues experienced by our external third-party administrators who manage the voting process.”
He would not provide any specifics about the technical issues, or name the third-party administrators, and he would not comment on whether it was an error on the part of TSX Trust Company.
TSX Trust was Barrick’s registrar and transfer agent for the AGM, the entity responsible for tallying the AGM votes.
TSX Trust did not respond to a request for comment.
Inside the power struggle at Barrick that led to the ouster of CEO Mark Bristow
Chairman John Thornton received the lowest approval rating of any director at the AGM with 81.1 per cent voting “for” his nomination, and 18.9 per cent of votes “withheld.” Apart from chief financial officer Helen Cai, who received 87.49 per cent approval, all the other directors received more than 92 per cent, with Robert Samek and chief executive Mark Hill earning more than 99 per cent.
Mr. Thornton’s low rating compared to his fellow board members wasn’t an anomaly. He had the lowest approval of any director in 2025, garnering 85.26 per cent of the votes, and, in 2023, his rating was also the worst with 81.9 per cent approval.
Mr. Thornton declined an interview request for this story.
When The Globe and Mail asked Barrick to comment on Mr. Thornton’s rating, Mr. Heckendorn said that “Barrick acknowledges the shareholders’ voting support for the chairman.”
John Zechner, chairman of J. Zechner Associates, which manages $1.3-billion in assets and owns shares in Barrick, said he understands investor frustration around Mr. Thornton.
With the ouster last year of Barrick chief executive Mark Bristow, as well as several other senior executives and board members, Mr. Thornton has become “the last man standing,” and the subject of ire from investors, Mr. Zechner said.
“It’s sort of an indictment of the past, rather than anything forward looking,” he said.
A former long-time investment banker with Goldman Sachs, Mr. Thornton, an American who lives in Palm Beach, Fla., joined Barrick as a director in 2012 at the behest of company founder Peter Munk. In 2014, he was promoted to executive chairman and held that position until 2024, when he transitioned to chair.
Barrick picks U.S. over Canada for primary stock listing of North American spinout
While Mr. Zechner was critical of Barrick’s poor long-term track record under Mr. Thornton’s leadership compared to the likes of Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. AEM-T, he is optimistic about the company’s future. The planned partial spinout of its North American operations is a smart strategy, he said.
“People are coming around and realizing Barrick may not be growing much anymore, but in terms of valuation, it’s cheaper than it’s been,” he said.
Over the past five years, Barrick has lagged behind other large Canadian gold companies, such as Agnico and Kinross Gold Corp. That’s in large part because of its heavy exposure to risky jurisdictions outside of North America, such as Africa, Pakistan and Papua New Guinea.
By the end of this year, Barrick plans to spin out between a 10- and 15-per-cent stake in its North American operations, which comprises its 61.5-per-cent stake in Nevada Gold Mines, its 60-per-cent stake in the Pueblo Viejo mine in the Dominican Republic, and its wholly-owned Fourmile project in Nevada.