Zambian Minister Says Barrick Has ‘No Cause’ for Concern Over Equinox

May.31 (Bloomberg)—Barrick Gold Corp. (ABX), which agreed to acquire Equinox Minerals Ltd. (EQN) last month, should have “no cause for concern” over conditions on its takeover of Equinox’s Lumwana mine in Zambia, the country’s mines minister said.

“I don’t see why there should be concern regarding the conditionalities,” Maxwell Mwale said today in an interview from Lusaka, the capital. He declined to comment further.

Barrick, the world’s largest gold producer, plans to take over the Lumwana copper mine as part of a C$7.3 billion ($7.5 billion) buyout of the Perth, Australia-based company. Equinox’s shares fell as much as 6.1 percent on May 27 after Barrick, based in Toronto, said it’s in talks with the regulator to modify the terms of Zambia’s conditional approval of the transaction.

Barrick must let the Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines Investment Holdings, a state-controlled mining company, keep its 2.2 percent stake in Equinox as a condition of the approval for the deal, the Zambian Competition Commission said in a statement on May 27. Barrick must also honor Lumwana’s existing agreements with a local smelter and suppliers, while limiting job losses, the commission said.

“The worst-case scenario is Barrick’s tender offer for Equinox gets a slight extension,” Catharine Sterritt, a Toronto-based risk-arbitrage trading strategist at Scotia Capital Inc., said today in a telephone interview. “We think Zambia’s request can be readily accommodated.”

C$8.15 Offer

Equinox rose 22 cents, or 2.8 percent, to C$7.94 at 4 p.m. in Toronto Stock Exchange trading. That was the biggest gain since April 25, when Barrick made a C$8.15 per-share all-cash offer for Equinox.

Equinox ended trading on May 27 down 4.6 percent after Barrick said talks with the Zambian government on the takeover were continuing.

Scott Brubacher, a Barrick spokesman, said today in an e- mail the company wouldn’t comment beyond the May 27 statement. John Lute, an external spokesman for Equinox, said in an e-mail the company wouldn’t comment.

Barrick rose 8 cents to C$46.44 in Toronto. The shares have fallen 12 percent since it announced its offer for Equinox.