Barrick Gold (TSE:ABX) Given Okay to Continue Mining Cortez Hills

Barrick Gold (TSE:ABX) was encouraged by the decision by a U.S. court to allow the gold mining company to move forward at the Nevada Cortez Hills mine.

People opposing Barrick had asked for a complete work stoppage while the U.S. Bureau of Land Management studied some of the concerns laid out by the group.

While there were some limitations imposed on Barrick, it was good to see a judge which understood the implications if the mine was closed and some of the dubious motives of those attempting to close it, who seemed more obsessed with that than other issues.

Consequently, Barrick won't be able to move ore off the site and will be limited as to how much water will be pumped from the mine while the study is being conducted.

In 2010, Barrick estimates the Cortez mine will product somewhere between 1.08 to 1.12 million ounces of gold. The mine employs over 1,000 people.