Barrick Receives Record of Decision on Cortez Hills

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - March 16, 2011) -

All amounts expressed in US dollars unless otherwise indicated

Barrick Gold Corporation (NYSE:ABX)(TSX:ABX) announced today that the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has issued a Record of Decision (ROD) approving the Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) for the Cortez Hills mine in Nevada. The Record of Decision is effective as of March 15, 2011.

"We are pleased to have the Record of Decision in hand and would like to thank the regulatory agencies for their thorough and detailed work," said Aaron Regent, President and CEO of Barrick. "Cortez Hills is a key asset for Barrick and one that will provide significant low cost ounces to the Company for many years to come. This mine is an important contributor to economic development and job opportunities in rural Nevada."

Cortez Hills has been operating under a tailored injunction granted by the U.S. District Court since April 2010. The injunction allowed mining to continue subject to certain restrictions on ore transportation and dewatering pending completion of the SEIS, which was finalized in January. The Record of Decision removes these restrictions and enables the operation to immediately revert to its original scope.

The entire Cortez property is expected to produce 1.30-1.45 million ounces in 2011 at total cash costs of $235-$265 per ounce. The property includes the Pipeline Open Pit, the Cortez Hills Open Pit and the Cortez Hills Underground mines.

Barrick's vision is to be the world's best gold company by finding, acquiring, developing and producing quality reserves in a safe, profitable and socially responsible manner.

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Certain information contained in this press release, including any information as to our strategy, projects, plans or future financial or operating performance and other statements that express management's expectations or estimates of future performance, constitute "forward-looking statements". All statements, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements. The words "believe", "expect", "will", "anticipate", "contemplate", "target", "plan", "continue", "budget", "may", "intend", "estimate" and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by management, are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies. The Company cautions the reader that such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual financial results, performance or achievements of Barrick to be materially different from the Company's estimated future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by those forward-looking statements and the forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance. These risks, uncertainties and other factors include, but are not limited to: changes in the worldwide price of gold or certain other commodities (such as fuel and electricity); legislative, political or economic developments in the United States; operating or technical difficulties in connection with mining or development activities; employee relations; availability and costs associated with mining inputs and labor; the risks involved in the exploration, development and mining business. Certain of these factors are discussed in greater detail in the Company's most recent Form 40-F/Annual Information Form on file with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Canadian provincial securities regulatory authorities.

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