Nevada Gold Mines, owned 61.5% and operated by Barrick and 38.5% owned by Newmont, is aiming to produce 1.8-1.9 million ounces of gold at all-in sustaining costs of US$920-$950/oz in the second half of 2019.
Barrick said the new joint venture would rank as the largest global gold producing complex "by a wide margin", containing three of the world's top 10 tier one gold assets.
These were Barrick's Cortez mine, and the combination of Barrick's Goldstrike with Newmont's Carlin, and Barrick's Turquoise Ridge with Newmont's Twin Creeks.
It said Barrick's Goldrush-Fourmile project had the potential to become the fourth tier one asset in the portfolio.
Identified synergies were expected to deliver up to $500 million per year in cost savings over the first five years from 2020, the companies said, through optimisations including operating Turquoise Ridge/Twin Creeks as a single mine.
"The company now has one team that shares one vision and who are more than ready to race out of the starting blocks," said Mark Bristow, the Barrick president and CEO and chairman of Nevada Gold Mines.
Barrick said the JV assets, which included 10 underground and 12 openpit mines, had produced 4.1Moz in 2018, about double the output of the industry's next largest gold mine, Muruntau in Uzbekistan.
Both Barrick and Newmont shares hit one-year highs last week on the back of a surging gold price, which has since eased.
