The Globe and Mail reports in its Saturday edition that Acacia Mining PLC said on Friday it expects 2018 gold production to come in at the top end of this year's reduced target of 435,000 to 475,000 ounces. A Reuters dispatch to The Globe quotes Barrick's African subsidiary and Tanzania's largest gold miner, as saying that first-half production fell more than 40 per cent to 254,759 ounces from a year earlier. It produced 133,778 ounces of gold in the second quarter, down 36 per cent from 2017 after scaling back operations at its flagship Bulyanhulu mine. It sold marginally more ounces than it produced in the quarter. Tanzania is making sweeping changes to its mining industry to reap more benefits from its minerals and last year slapped Acacia, its biggest gold miner, with a $190-billion (U.S.) bill in unpaid taxes, penalties and interest. Acacia said in June that Barrick would not provide a new deadline for the completion of talks to end the dispute after failing to meet a midyear target to do so. The 2018 guidance is at least 38 per cent lower than 2017. Barrick closed Friday at $17.50, down 19 cents on the Toronto Stock Exchange.