The new Barrick, which will be listed in New York and Toronto, will own five of the world's 10 lowest cost gold mines and will be the world's top bullion producer by both value and output.
Investors stung by the sell-off in gold are going to need more than cheap equities and stabilizing bullion prices to wade back into mining-company stocks.
The U.S. Treasury in April imposed sanctions against billionaire Oleg Deripaska and eight companies in which he is a large shareholder, including aluminum exporter Rusal, in response to what it termed "malign activities" by Russia.