Canada-headquartered Barrick Gold Corp says the joint venture Kibali gold mine, in the Democratic Republic of Congo achieved an improved performance in the last quarter of 2024, culminating in the highest yearly throughput since its commissioning.

This milestone underscores the mine’s continued focus on operational excellence and its capacity to deliver strong results, the gold miner states.

“2024 was a challenging year, which called for a reset and some leadership changes. Despite this, the year has once again demonstrated that Kibali is a consistent and efficient low-cost producer. The mine is well positioned to build on this foundation and deliver strong results in 2025 and beyond,” says Barrick Africa and Middle East COO Sebastiaan Bock.

The management team has been further strengthened, and exploration is focused on highly prospective areas within the Kibali permit. These areas hold significant potential for new gold discoveries within trucking distance of the plant, aimed at bolstering the mine’s reserve pipeline.

“Barrick is also making significant progress on the construction of a 16 MW solar plant at Kibali to help reduce its CO₂ emissions from 45 000 t/y to 24 000 t/y. Not only is it the biggest gold mine in Africa and a global leader in automation, but it is also fast becoming a model for renewable energy in African mining,” Bock said.

Much of Kibali’s electricity is already supplied by three hydropower stations, but the new solar plant and battery energy storage system, expected to be completed by June this year, will help reduce the mine's fuel consumption by 53%, while increasing the renewables component of its energy mix from 81% to 85%. Designed to back up the hydropower supply during the region’s dry season, it will also allow Kibali to operate with 100% renewable power for six months of the year.

Further, freshwater extraction from the Kibali river was reduced from 15% to 11% for 2024 following a modification of the water reticulation system, and four 50 t electric trucks were delivered to site for a trial operation.