The Buyer Who Never Signs AnythingThin moat
Barrick Mining (B) — moat facet
No concentration, no contracts and no negotiation -- and therefore no pricing power, no switching costs and no way to be preferred.
Barrick's sales process contains no commercial skill worth describing. Doré is refined, the metal is sold at or around the London benchmark, and the proceeds arrive. The company reported a realised gold price above $4,800 an ounce in a recent quarter, and it realised that price for the same reason every other producer did: it was the price, which set 53 all-time highs during 20251.
Barrick does report concentration: three buyers each took more than 10% of revenue in 2025, about 26%, 12% and 11%2. It is concentration of a different kind, because any of them can be replaced by another trader at the same price. No counterparty can renegotiate Barrick's terms or take the business down by leaving, and there is no key account whose loss would show up in the results.
That is the whole benefit, and the price of it is total. A business with no customers also has no pricing power, no switching costs, no relationships to deepen and no way to be preferred. Barrick's revenue rose 31 percent in 20253, and net earnings in one quarter rose 238 percent, on essentially no change in what the company did.
This is precisely why the ROIC comparison on the moat page matters more here than anywhere else in the collection: a price-taker earns above its cost of capital only by producing at a lower cost than the market clears at.
The number to watch is realised price against the LBMA benchmark. If it ever differs materially, something has gone wrong, not right.
Barrick sells at the market; a price-taker's realized price tracks the benchmark within a few percent.
Source: Barrick second quarter 2026 MD&A (SEC Form 6-K exhibit 99.2) ↗- ReportedThe LBMA gold price set 53 new all-time highs in 2025 and averaged US$3,431.5/oz, up 44%.World Gold Council, Gold Demand Trends Q4 and Full Year 2025 — total gold demand including OTC exceeded 5,000t for the first time, worth an unprecedented US$555bn (+45%), with the LBMA gold price setting 53 new all-time highs during 2025; the annual average price was US$3,431.5/oz (+44%) and the Q4 average a record US$4,135.2/oz (+55%). Supply: mine production a record 3,671.6t (+1%), net producer hedging -73.6t, recycled gold 1,404.3t (+3%) — described as a relatively muted response to a 67% increase in the US dollar gold price — for total supply of 5,002.3t. Demand: jewellery fabrication 1,638.0t (-19%) and jewellery consumption 1,542.3t (-18%) with jewellery demand value up 18% to a record; bar and coin 1,374.1t (+16%), a 12-year high; ETFs and similar products +801.2t against -2.9t in 2024, the second strongest year on record; central banks and other institutions 863.3t against 1,092.4t, at the upper end of the expected range, historically elevated and geographically widespread but slowed from their recent pace — FY2025 · publ. 2026-01-29 · source ↗
- ReportedThree buyers each took more than 10% of revenue in 2025, about 26%, 12% and 11%.Barrick year-end 2025 consolidated financial statements (40-F exhibit 99.3), note 6 Revenue - gold sales $15,147M, copper sales $1,475M, other sales $334M, total $16,956M (2024: $12,922M); three customers individually above 10% of revenue, about 26%, 12% and 11%, but gold can be sold through numerous traders, so the Company is not economically dependent on them — FY2025 · publ. 2026-02-27 · source ↗
- Moat Explorer calcBarrick's revenue rose 31 percent in 2025.Barrick year-end 2025 consolidated financial statements (40-F exhibit 99.3), note 6 Revenue - gold sales $15,147M, copper sales $1,475M, other sales $334M, total $16,956M (2024: $12,922M); three customers individually above 10% of revenue, about 26%, 12% and 11%, but gold can be sold through numerous traders, so the Company is not economically dependent on them — FY2025 · publ. 2026-02-27 · source ↗