The company formed after a merger between Equinox and Equinox Resources in January, 2004, and was incorporated the same month as a Canadian company. It began operations in Zambia in 1996.
Prior to being acquired by Equinox in 1999 at least 10 different companies failed in their attempts to develop the Lumwana project, which covers 2 major copper mines and 1355 km squared in area.
In 2010 Equinox was involved in a couple major transactions; first it acquired the Jabal Sayid copper-gold-silver project 350 km from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, capable of producing 2.6 million tons of ore per year starting in 2012. In February it launched a $4.8 billion hostile takeover bid for copper producer Lundin Mining, at the same time Lundin was attempting its own takeover . . In April 2011, Equinox rejected a takeover offer by China Minmetals, but later accepted a bid by Barrick Gold.
On April 25, 2011, Barrick Gold Corporation announced the acquisition of Equinox for $7.69 billion.
