mark, you have a different profile to the more traditional barrick investors. pieces about mark bristow i read the word swashbuckling and similar phrases. on does mark bristow get with that more conservative shareholder base at barrick? how big a challenge to you have in convincing everyone to take the company in the direction you want? randgold is a standout performer in the ftse 100 over the last decade or two decades. youdemonstrated that if focus on quality no matter what jurisdiction you are in you can deliver real value for stakeholders. and there no doubt in my mind has world-class assets. the majority of the top 10 gold assets in this industry. and there are some easy operating environments, like where they have does cowrote class assets, and challenging reasons -- regions in latin america. i have no doubt that everyone is fired up to join us in this this focus has been to deliver value for our stakeholders. not only our shareholders who are the most important oureholders, but also for host country stakeholders and our business class partners at large.

barrick. >> barrick gold and rand gold resources completing its merger, now trading at the new york stockand the ran ttor stock exchange under the tick er simil symbol "gold." joining us, mark bristow congrats on getting the deal done. >> thank you. >> i was looking at the conference call in september when you were discussing the new deal you said, to thrive we have to go where the gold is that makes sense how does the barrick deal enhance your ability to go where the gold is? >> it puts us into the footprints where you find world class gold deposits and that's where you've got -- if you look at gold mining, the value of gold mining sits in the quality of the asset because we can't prescribe the gold price but what represents o s our revenues the great, the quality of the gold so between barrick and rand we put together five of the 108 top gold deposits in the world and to be a world leader, it's good to have at least 50% of the best mines around the globe. >> you do talk, though, a lot -- i know in the conversations you've had with your investors about longer term and your goals longer t

the stock has 26% more upside, a new era for barrick.eo says he is committed to a disciplined approach, while improving shareholder return. >> randgold, we are a standout performer in the ftse 100 over the last two decades. we have demonstrated that if you focus on quality, no matter what jurisdiction you are in, you can deliver real value for one's stakeholders, which we have done. there is no doubt that barrick world class assets, the majority of the top 10 gold assets in this industry. alix: you have to love the passion. now were going to get into the ring and look at the big dislocation. steel prices versus steel equities. the blue line is what is happening with this deal price, withhe white lion are -- steel price, and the white line are steel equities. they are usually in tandem, but now they are not. our guest joins us. which is it, prices are equities? >> is only were that simple. all you have to do is understand what trump will do with tariffs and then you will have your answer, i suppose. with the investor community is telling

we are told by the president himself that barrick had agreed to pay $300 million as...ou would call it, like a golden handshake. but the president himself made a statement that they have agreed to make a payment, an immediate payment of $300 million. they have not paid a penny. not a penny. they were slapped with a tax bill of $194 billion. they have not paid a penny. not a penny. it seems you don't even want the government to take on the big foreign corporates. you have been complaining, saying that we must be nicer to them. i have not said that at all. i spent 19 years from 1999 when everybody, magafuli included, were singing the praises of these investors in the mining sector ripping us off. 19 years as the sole voice to the contrary. if i may say, if it is so clear that magafuli is failing the people, why is it in the last year, a substantial number — at least six and possibly, depending how you read it, ten members of the official opposition in parliament — and, of course, there are various parties in the opposition — but opposition members that seem to have defect

of income but of course no one knows where the vet will happen and many people are leaving stram barrick to find work. especially young people. but some young people have decided to stay four months ago. native opened an advertising agency she receives many orders from the coal industry. from my point of view where in the middle of a structural change we must accept this and recreate things to suit our needs we have to look to the future. represents a new plan barack the training to media designer wants to set an example especially for young people if people do stay here in the self-proclaimed pearl of the seychelles will have a future even without coal. that's the motto first rember could be move forward creatively stay here in this asia but think up a new future so that the peril can continue to shine germany wants to phase out coal power a chance to start something new but many people fear it will be at their cost no one really knows what industry will replace coal and what will fill the void here and. while saying in germany and sports now this comes as currently co-hosting the world

in a couple of months in gold, barrick gold bought ram gold for 6.5 billion so we asked goldberg if thislare that he thinks gold prices will stay lower for longer. >> we're designing our business to survive through the cycles in prices we're not predict an up or down. as we go through our longer-term price we use a $12,5 gold price in making returns and making sure that any project or business going forward is delivering at least a 15% rate of return. >> not only has gold been a dead money trade for a long time now, remember, we were above 1,700 an ounce back in october 2011 for the next four years it went down, down, down been stuck in that range around 1,200 for a few years. remember, it fell nearly below $1,000 in late 2015 so i asked goldberg how confident he is in that $1,200 protection. >> we do test our plans at an $800 price, $900 and then up to 1,200 so, you know, at this stage we look at past history and where we're at i think we sit in a solid position in terms of cost of production to be able to compete through the cycles. >> and i think goldberg, guys, wants to make sure tha

barrick bought rand gold there's more but these are the big boys they're consolidating because they want to control production. >> certainly we play it in the futures market, but the way to approach it is in the gdxj that approach in a broader swath, not picking single stocks here it gets challenging but the dollar index, it's moving the boat in the gold market. that weakening dollar is going to continue to put wind in the sails of these miners. >> head to cnbc.com for more on the inrvw.teie >>> the dow up 154 see that's funny, i thought you traded options. i'm not really a wall street guy. what's the hesitation? eh, it just feels too complicated, you know? well sure, at first, but jj can help you with that. jj, will you break it down for this gentleman? hey, ian. you know, at td ameritrade, we can walk you through your options trades step by step until you're comfortable. i could be up for that. that's taking options trading from wall st. to main st. hey guys, wanna play some pool? eh, i'm not really a pool guy. what's the hesitation? it's just complicated. step-by-step options trading

that newmont mining is buying goldcorp which comes on top of rang gold's fairly recent merge were barrick gold when you see a spate of deals, you got to ask yourself who might be next. when you look at the smaller and mid tier gold miners, one of the best is kirkland lake gold, a company that operates in canada and australia. it has more than doubled since its shares began trading since august of 2017 more importantly, the company has given us a series of positive updates in recent months at the end of november, we learned about terrific results from the key mine in australia and last week got fabulous fourth quarter production numbers, much higher than expected those are some stellar fundamentals, and you've also got the possibility of more mma activity in the space. so let's take a closer look with tony mccooch, the president and ch ceo of lakeland gold welcome to "mad money. >> thank you nice to be here and get the opportunity to tell you lots of good things about kl gold. >> let's talk than what was the message that you sent to investors yesterday? >> i think a lot of people look at o

newmont acquiring gold crecorp barrick also in the end game consolidation for the industry, and closingek or so. they announced that deal in september. that's what we're seeing, newmont following through in cementing this deal to acquire goldcorp talking $100 million in annual pretax synergies, may well be more than that don't need approvals in china, just if you're trying to map out the risk, doesn't seem to be a great deal of risk again, the view is for newmont, this is the other asset to be able to expand and consolidate and compete with the likes of barrick. 17% premium. gold corp shareholders will own one-third of the new company >>> let's send it over now to jon fortt with what's coming up on "squawk alley." >> good morning, david janet yellen was talking retail this morning, a kind of shaky start to the year, depending how you look at it impact of the government 'lha ialcongpact of amazon wel vet l mi up on "squawk alley. >>> welcome back to "squawk on the street." stocks are lower off the worst levels of the morning. 9 of 11 trading in negative territory. let's drill down into o