Geophysx Jamaica Limited, a mining company led by Robert Stewart, has entered into an “exploration earn-in agreement” with Canada-based gold mining giant Barrick Gold Corporation, allowing the company access to some 4,000 square kilometres of exploration lands throughout the country.

The agreement, which was struck with Barrick Gold’s subsidiary, Barrick Gold (International Holdings), will enable the company to earn up to an 80 per cent joint-venture interest in designated properties across the island upon meeting specific investment requirements and completing study-related tasks.

Barrick will act as the operator, in partnership with Geophysx, leveraging Geophysx’s existing personnel, knowledge, facilities, and equipment.

The deal comes weeks after Geophysx Jamaica announced that it entered an agreement with copper and gold explorer C3 Metals to combine finds from Pennants, a gold mine in Clarendon which has been closed since 2004, with that of Main Ridge, Clarendon, to create the Super Block project.

Under the Super Block project, each party will have an initial 50 per cent interest in the project. Furthermore, both companies will explore “highly prospective” copper and gold exploration targets that appear to overlap the parties’ concessions.

“We are excited to be partnering with Barrick, a company that not only shares our beliefs in environmentally responsible and sustainable exploration and mining but is also a sector-leading gold and copper producer with a portfolio which spans the world’s most prolific gold and copper districts,” founder and managing director of Geophysx, Robert “Bobby” Stewart, said in a press release.

“This is an amazing opportunity for Jamaica to grow a new economic base. Barrick’s experience in exploring, developing, and operating projects combined with Geophysx’s in-country knowledge and committed team makes this an ideal partnership to advance the industry in Jamaica,” he continued.

A private mineral exploration company, Geophysx has been engaged in an intensive nationwide greenfield exploration programme since the launch of its business six years ago. The company is said to have conducted high-quality early stage exploration work, including geochemical sampling, geological mapping, and industry-leading airborne geophysical surveys.

Meanwhile, Barrick Gold produces gold and copper with 16 operating sites in 13 countries. It is headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It has mining operations in Argentina, Canada, Chile, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Dominican Republic, Mali, Papua New Guinea, Saudi Arabia, Tanzania, the United States, and Zambia.

In 2023, the company produced 4.05 million ounces of gold and as of December 31, 2023, the company had 77 million ounces of proven and probable gold reserves.

Barrick President and CEO Mark Bristow reckons that the datasets provide the two companies with an opportunity to move rapidly to target definition and accelerate the potential discovery of new resources.

“We are pleased to partner with Geophysx, who has assembled a large, consolidated portfolio of work and holdings in Jamaica, a significantly underexplored and prospective region. We look forward to advancing our partnership by combining and leveraging Geophysx’s capabilities and presence on the island, along with the remarkable dataset they have created with Barrick’s technical and financial resources, to deliver new world-class discoveries.

“We also look forward to partnering with the Government of Jamaica to pursue projects for the benefit of the country and local communities,” Bristow said.

Mining remains a significant contributor to Jamaica’s gross domestic product.

For the period March 2023 to March 2024, the index for the mining and quarrying industry declined by 7.1 per cent as a result of a 7.5 per cent fall in the index for the major group, ‘bauxite mining and alumina processing’.

However, in March 2024, producer prices for the mining and quarrying industry increased by 0.8 per cent, according to data released by the Statistical Institute of Jamaica (Statin). These increases were due to the depreciation of the Jamaican dollar vis-à-vis the United States dollar.