Barrick Gold Corp. and Randgold Resources Ltd. completed the last major step towards their proposed blockbuster merger, securing approval Dec. 17 from the Royal Court of Jersey.

Trading in Randgold's shares will be halted Dec. 31 on the London Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq Stock Market, with shares of the combined company to start trading Jan. 2, 2019, on the NYSE and Toronto Stock Exchange under the Barrick name.

The new Barrick will trade on the NYSE under Randgold's Nasdaq GOLD ticker and will continue to trade on the TSX under Barrick's existing ABX symbol.

The merged entity will become the world's biggest gold miner, according to Mark Bristow, current CEO of Randgold and designated president and CEO of the combined company, with a market capitalization of US$18.3 billion.

The new Barrick aims to emulate Randgold's decentralized structure and is expected to off-load unwanted assets upon closing.