I want to start off, you will remember that it was 12 months ago now since we had this management change at Barrick. I still remember that day quite clearly. We sat down after that and said, "What do we need to do with Barrick to get us back to the premier gold mining company that it was?" There was a list of four. There was four pillars or four things we thought we needed to address to get our credibility back, and to get the trust back within our communities, within the investors, and within our employees as well. They are not new points. They are the same points I have highlighted at every speech I have given. It was safety, operational delivery, growth, and obviously, this North American IPO.
I just want to touch on where we have progressed with each of those, just quickly before I hand over to Tim and Seb. On the safety, we were one of the worst in the industry, as I am sure you are all aware. The teams have done an exceptional job of bringing that back, and I am pleased to say that obviously, I know it is an extreme situation, but the fatalities we used to have, we have addressed that. The severe accidents we have had, they have come down significantly. What I did underestimate, by a large margin, is just how long it takes to rebuild a safety culture. We are far from out of the woods in that, but the teams have certainly made good progress, and it is a credit to all of the general managers and everyone on site.
Secondly, we had a history of not delivering on guidance. When I deliver the Q3 results, that will be the fourth quarter in a row that we have delivered on our guidance and on our cost guidance, production and cost. I know a lot of people keep telling me that one quarter does not mean anything, two quarters. We have got to the point where everyone tells me I need 18 months of continuous production and meeting our guidance before anyone will believe there has been a change. Anyway, just going to keep pushing ahead with that, and I am going to talk about guidance a bit more later on. On growth, the other thing is delivering on these projects. There has been a step change at Pueblo Viejo, as you have seen, and we have got on top of this relocation.
Now there is no risk to this tailings dam expansion. There is still work to be done on the float cells, which we are working with our joint venture partners, and that is a bit more. It is longer dated, and it is not going to happen in the next 12 months, and Tim will talk to that in his section as well. But, we have stabilized that, and we have secured the future for tailing storage, which means we can go through and complete our expansion. Lumwana, I have visited it recently, is on track and on budget, which I am pleased to say. Fourmile, Tim will get to that as well, but that will be now part of the Cortez and the whole Nevada optimization.
Reko Diq, which is not on the slide, but we have slowed that down and we are revisiting that, so we're revisiting that from the EPCM strategy. Seb will talk to that as well. But also, we are revisiting it because we need some sort of security improvement before we would embark on full construction schedule at Reko Diq. The other thing I want to highlight is the other side of the graph there. One of the criticisms of Barrick was always that we used to just reset the guidance. We'd give three years' guidance, and then we'd come back the next year and reset it. So I did just want to highlight that I want to reiterate, that is our guidance. So we still have that growth profile, it's still intact, and that's what we'll be adding another year to next year.
I think that's pretty much all I had to say other than on the IPO, it is on track, and we're still pushing for the end of the year. We've had some delays with. There's a lot of formalities you have to go through to get that done, but we're still targeting the end of the year. Maybe it will slide into January, but there won't be a significant delay to that. Okay. As I said, we're going to hear from Tim and Seb, and it's mainly about the growth opportunities. Now that we've stabilized the business, I think we've done well at stabilizing it. We want to try and highlight to this group what we've got ahead of us, especially in North America and the rest of the world. So, when we announced this IPO, the questions that came up are obviously use of proceeds.
We've addressed that. When we're going to implement it, who was going to run it? So, you now know that I'll be running the IPO in North America, Seb will be running Barrick as the rest of the world. Then we've got both teams, which are pretty much independent as it stands now, which you'll see from these presentations. So, we've got that all in place. I think the only outstanding question we have from investors is the composition of the board. So, that is still an ongoing discussion, and that's something that Barrick's current board will have to come, and I'll give you an update on that as soon as I get that information. So with that, I'll hand it over to Tim Cribb. Thank you. Thanks, Tim.
Thanks, Mark. Good morning, everyone. Look, before I get started and talk about the growth, I just wanted to take a minute to recognize the effort of the team in North America. It's been a massive turnaround, as Mark said, on the safety front. We were not in a good place on safety, as Mark said, and I think the commitment from everyone to reset safety is showing the benefit this year. There's still a long way to go. But it's just so important that the team at site, and all the workers in North America stay absolutely focused on that so that we can keep delivering on that. Okay. As Mark said, I'm going to take you through Barrick's North America region and look at some of the work which we've commenced this year to bring NGM back to being a 3-million-ounce per annum producer.
As I'm sure most of you are aware, Barrick's North America region has four Tier One gold assets underpinned by Nevada Gold Mines, NGM, the biggest gold miner in the world. We hold 61.5% of that joint venture. We have four operating districts within NGM, Carlin, Cortez, Turquoise Ridge, all of which are Tier One assets, and we have Phoenix. We've just recently brought Fourmile into the Cortez structure. Outside of Nevada, as Mark mentioned, we have the Pueblo Viejo asset in the Dominican Republic, which we have a 60% interest in. At PV, this year has really been focused, as Mark mentioned, about stabilizing the expansion project and delivering on the resettlement and working on the throughput and recovery. You've seen those improvements come through over quarter one and quarter two.
The refocus on growth across North America, which started this year, has highlighted a lot of opportunities, both in terms of capital investment, but also in terms of exploration potential across this low-risk jurisdiction. We're planning to spend the same amount in North America next year on exploration as we spent in the whole of Barrick this year. We need to accelerate these targets and bring these successes into our portfolio so that we can sustain the targeted 3 million ounce or greater production rate. Sorry, I forgot to go to the slides. One job. Looking at the NGM joint venture, which has now brought Fourmile into that structure. This has really given us the opportunity to look at increased processing scenarios, which can now be supported with the addition of the Fourmile ore into that Cortez district.
We continue to advance the option of using rail to transport the Cortez ore to the Carlin processing facilities. This addresses the restrictions which we have in place in terms of over-the-road transport, and it also works to help us reduce our operating costs. However, the inclusion of Fourmile means we have the opportunity to look at additional processing capacity at Cortez. We're doing work, we've commenced work already on an option for that capacity, such as a roaster, similar to what you would see at Carlin. This would allow us to process Cortez ore directly at Cortez, enabling lower operating cost setup and providing additional production which would take us over that 3 million ounce per annum production rate.
Importantly, this additional processing means we can now support expediting the exploration of our key targets at Carlin and Cortez to ensure that we maintain this production rate for over a decade. The key to this has been the newly modernized joint venture agreement. The alignment between the joint venture partners now gives us the opportunity to accelerate and unlock this value faster. Looking at Cortez. We think that this work with the additional processing capacity is going to turn Cortez into a 1 million ounce producer on a 100% basis for over a decade. We've covered the benefits of the lower operating costs, which is a flow-through to the existing resource. What's really important to look at here is the quality of the resource and exploration drilling targets we have in this area.
With the integration of Fourmile, the area between Goldrush and Fourmile is now connected. This gives us the opportunity to target drilling at KB and Crow and join the Fourmile and the Goldrush ore bodies together. Some of the best intercepts we've had this year have been at KB. This has been driven by the increased understanding we have of the geology from the drilling which we've done at Fourmile. We expect this KB and Crow ore body to keep growing, and that's going to support the initial years of this increased processing feed. Importantly, the exploration team has also identified a number of other targets along strike of Goldrush and Fourmile. You can see the Meadow target to the south there.
The exploration has a large portfolio which they're going to target over the coming 12 months to bring these targets to account while the resource team continues to advance the KB/Crow , while they continue to also keep drilling out Goldrush and Fourmile. Moving over to the Carlin district. Carlin has a long-standing history of producing over 1 million ounces per annum. We believe we can sustain that rate for at least another decade. Importantly, there's real opportunities here for higher production years if improved feed grade can be brought in through the exploration and resource development targets which exist. Without the additional processing capacity at Cortez, Carlin was always constrained by the higher grade Fourmile ore, which would displace most targets. Now we have a pathway to bring these Carlin targets in, and these are still very good targets.
They're + 6 g, 7 g per ton targets, and they can come into the production profile at Carlin now that you have that concept of the additional process capacity at Cortez. Drilling out the Gold Strike trend, and defining the endowment of Greater Leeville is going to be the key focus of the geology teams at Carlin over the coming one to two years. Importantly, along with this work, the engineering teams have commenced the study work at increasing the material movement capacity from Greater Leeville. This year, we've started a trade-off between an additional shaft and decline at Greater Leeville to add that material movement capacity. This work will be completed next year, and it will align with any additional processing capacity. The growth focus across operations has supported an increase in open pits, which provide blend to the NGM feed profile, supplementing the process across the operations.
In increasing the process capacity, we've also commenced work on advancing open pit expansions, which will see the open pits lives extend out beyond 2050. Importantly, as we strip these pits, we have the opportunity to bring heap leach and oxide ores into the nearer term. Okay, so bringing this all together, we're refocusing our attention on the growth of North America, especially the growth of Nevada, and importantly, the growth of NGM, where we know we have some of the best gold assets. By optimizing these existing assets under the newly aligned joint venture structure, we have the opportunity to accelerate a step change in production through additional process capacity. This gets us back to investing more in exploration and resource development in the highly prospective ground we have at and around NGM, the ground that has been so successful for us in our history.
The chart on the left really tells the story. We expect to have modest growth as we bring some of the shorter-term opportunities with the inclusion of the increased open pit ore and the continued ramp-up of Goldrush. Then, looking out beyond 2030, we have the additional processing capacity coming in and the ability to grow beyond 3 million ounces per annum. Thank you, everyone, for your time. I will hand over to Seb.
Thanks, Tim, and good morning, everyone. I am Seb Bock. I am the CEO for the rest-of-the-world business for Barrick. That covers everything outside of the North American gold business that Tim has just taken you through. The rest of the world spans nine countries, two commodities. It is a business of real scale, with more than half of the group's reserves and all of the copper. What underpins it is three things: the quality of the assets, the team that has proven they can deliver it in the jurisdictions that we operate in, and a disciplined approach to growth. Today, we are growing our production, and there is a significant potential beyond that, which we are pursuing through strict capital allocation. This is how we unlock the value of this portfolio. Let me start with the assets. Kibali is a multi-decade district asset that is still underexplored.
It is highly automated. It is a leading green energy matrix, and expansion optionality is significant ahead of it. In South America, Veladero has the makings of a large, high-quality asset that we are looking to extend the life through multiple decades. Loulo-Gounkoto is back. We have restored operational control. The ramp-up is progressing steadily, and it will again be a significant contributor to the group. I will come back to this story in a moment. In copper, Lumwana is our near-term growth driver. The Super Pit expansion doubles its annual output to 240,000 tons a year, and it gives us a 30-year mine life. Gold and copper sits naturally together in this portfolio. The geology overlaps, the skills overlap, and it is the same people running both. Because we operate in regional hubs, one management team, one supply chain, one set of government relationships, they all carry both commodities.
That brings me to how we operate. As Mark said, our absolute priority is ensuring safe and stable production. Safety and stability go hand in hand. It starts with every person going home safely every day. That same discipline is what drives strong production. This business has met and exceeded its production guidance for seven years in a row. It is on track to do it again this year. We are building up our production profile over the next few years, and we have a solid foundation for growth to scale. That consistency is what creates real value. It lets us plan properly, and it lets us invest with confidence. Right now, we are focused on optimizing the asset base we already have and are managing costs, of course, in a highly inflationary environment.
We are also strengthening how we build and maintain the partnerships with our governments and our local stakeholders. I said I will come back to Loulo-Gounkoto because this is the clearest example of what those partnerships mean in practice. Last year, the dispute we had with the government led to a suspension of the complex. That was real lost value to all of the stakeholders. What matters is how we came out of it. We rebuilt trust, we restored our relationships, and ultimately, we got our license renewed for another 10 years. We are now ahead of the original ramp-up schedule, and once it is back to full production, it will be a strong source of cash into the future. That approach is paying off elsewhere, too. At North Mara, we have just recently renewed our license for another 15 years.
The discipline that runs through the mines is the same discipline building the next one. That brings me to Lumwana. Lumwana is our near-term copper growth, and we are making good progress on the expansion, as Mark has pointed out. Design upgrades at the crusher are already increasing the milling throughput in the existing plant. The broader plant expansion is progressing to plan, and the mill installation is expected to begin at the end of this year. Construction is going well. It is on time. It is on budget. We continue to target first copper by the end of the first quarter of 2028. Once the ramp-up is complete, production more than doubles from 117,000 tons pre-expansion to 240,000 tons a year. That is the growth we are building now.
The harder discipline is deciding what comes after it, and our starting point is the growth already embedded in our portfolio. When we allocate capital, we assess every opportunity, organic and inorganic, against the same question: does it generate strong enough returns to earn its place? We are in a privileged position with a pipeline of brownfield growth and opportunities that support the result of our exploration programs. Cash flow from existing operations is expected to support that future development and in line with our capital allocation framework. We are balancing our returns to shareholders for value accretive growth. At Kibali, we are advancing a pre-feasibility study for a possible mine expansion supported by a new discovery at ARK, which points to both higher annual production and a longer mine life.
At Twiga, which is our North Mara and our Bulyanhulu Tanzanian complex, we have a long life business, and we are kicking off early stages to bring value forward by increasing the production through low capital, de-bottlenecking opportunities. At Veladero, the mine sits in one of the great gold districts in the Americas. We are looking at our regional synergies could unlock the undeveloped endowment around the existing infrastructure. Everything I have just described is the growth we already own on the ground we already operate. It is the lowest cost, the lowest risk growth available to us, and it is the core to our story. It does not depend on anything else. Beyond that, of course, we have Reko Diq. It is one of the largest undeveloped copper and gold deposits in the world, and it creates real optionality for this portfolio.
But a project of that scale calls for a considered approach.
We're reviewing the development plan, the phasing, the funding, and we need the right operating conditions in place ahead of any decision to commit capital at scale. Inorganic opportunities are judged in the same way. Anything we look at has to compete with the growth I've just described. To bring it together, this is a business with quality assets. It's got a proven track record of delivering them. It's got a disciplined approach to growth in the near term and the long term. Alongside the North American business, the rest of the world completes a global portfolio of exceptional assets. The new structure gives us two management teams that are focused on their regional businesses, each with a dedicated leadership close to the assets they know and built to extract full value of that portfolio.
We share the same discipline, the same ambition, and the same drive, and that is who Barrick is today. Thank you.
Thank you.