So, Barrick is agreeing to sell X amount of gold to satisfy a futures contract

Barrick already sold the gold, they don't have it and need to get it. They have no cash and no gold so the bullion banks they have been gaming the system with for the last few decades are giving them money to go get the gold on the market. So are the banks using Barrick to game the system or is Barrick that poorly managed from a gold producer's point of view or are they the same thing? To steal the money you need to own the banks, it also applies to gold and gold is money.