Barrick leadership reshuffle: legal and global affairs lens for project teams
Reviewed by Tom Sullivan
First reported on MINING.com
30 Second Briefing
Barrick Gold has expanded its executive committee, appointing James J. McGuire as chief legal and policy officer and Woo Lee as chief global affairs officer, both reporting to new CEO Mark Hill. McGuire, a former federal criminal prosecutor in the Southern District of New York and ex–managing partner of Greenspoon Marder’s New York office, will oversee legal, compliance, regulatory and public policy functions, while current chief legal officer Poupak Bahamin becomes general counsel and chief compliance officer. Lee, with over 30 years’ experience in Washington, China and East Asia and 11 years at Barrick, will lead global government affairs and sovereign relationships across all markets.
Technical Brief
- McGuire brings over 30 years’ combined civil and criminal litigation experience for major corporates and financial institutions.
- His background as a federal criminal prosecutor in the Southern District of New York adds prosecutorial insight on enforcement risk.
- Lee’s prior remit as SVP, head of government and corporate affairs, Asia Pacific focused on state, business and community interfaces.
- Over 30 years’ experience in Washington, China and East Asia positions Lee to manage sovereign relationships in complex jurisdictions.
- Previous service as a US State Department diplomat in APAC gives Lee direct experience with bilateral and multilateral negotiation frameworks.
Our Take
Barrick Mining’s focus on copper and gold keeps it squarely within the most heavily covered commodity pair in our mining database, where many of the 1,090 Mining stories now emphasise permitting risk and host-government relations as much as geology or capex.
The decision to highlight US, China and wider East Asia experience in its leadership bench aligns with a pattern in our coverage where large copper–gold operators are re-weighting senior roles toward geopolitical risk management rather than purely transactional legal work.
The noted US$100 million exploration spend at Fruta del Norte signals that Barrick is treating long-life Tier‑1 gold assets in jurisdictions like Ecuador as strategic anchors, a stance that typically underpins tougher negotiation postures with both governments and JV partners in our project-level data.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
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