The Globe and Mail reports in its Friday edition that Desjardins analyst Josh Wolfson says Barrick Gold's ($17.44) proposed joint venture with Newmont Mining that combines their assets in Nevada is a "low-risk, high-reward agreement with positive long-term implications." The Globe's David Leeder writes that Mr. Wolfson elevated his rating to "buy" from "hold." Mr. Wolfson continues to target the shares at $22. Analysts on average target the shares at $18.67. Mr. Wolfson says in a note: "The partnership secures a long-held aspiration to reduce redundancies and improve efficiency among an overlapping asset base. Although quantifying synergy upside is challenging, we forecast interim ABX Nevada forecasts improve materially from the JV alone. Excluding the benefit of any synergies, our 2020/21 FCF [free cash flow] improves by a sizable US$135/302-million as ABX benefits from both higher attributable production and lower attributable capital spending due to shared Goldrush development costs. This is partially offset by modestly lower Nevada FCF thereafter as prior Nevada growth is now also shared within the JV. Absent the inclusion of any synergies, our ABX NAV increases 2 per cent solely from the JV agreement."