Barrick Gold sells interest in Geraldton district to Premier Gold Mines

On December 22, 2008, Premier Gold Mines Limited (TSX:PG) announced that it had closed the acquisition of mining claims commonly known as the Geraldton, Ozone Creek and Eva Summers properties located in the Geraldton district in the Province of Ontario (collectively the "G-L Property"), together with certain equipment and other assets related thereto (the "Purchased Assets"). Premier acquired the G-L Properties from Lac Properties Inc. ("Lac"), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Barrick Gold Corporation (TSX, NYSE: ABX) by (i) issuing to Lac 500,000 common shares of Premier, (ii) making a cash payment to Lac of $1,000,000, (iii) depositing $1,000,000 in an environmental reclamation trust fund in the connection with G-L Property, (iv) granting to Lac a 3.0% net smelter return royalty on production from the G-L Property, and (v) assuming certain liabilities and obligations of Lac in respect of the Purchased Assets. Barrick was advised in this sale by its Senior Counsel David Simpson and by a team from Fasken Martineau led by Charles Kazaz, and including Michael Bourassa, Alex Nikolic, and Neil Smiley, with the assistance of real estate clerk Linda Caldwell.