Jamie Sokalsky hit the reset button for Barrick Gold Corp. Thursday. By slashing Barrick’s longterm production targets and promising to focus on investor returns ahead of boosting output, Mr. Sokalsky acknowledged that “growth for growth’s sake” is the wrong strategy in an industry in which share performance has been awful and cost inflation is out of control.

Moreover, he said production and reserve growth are not what investors seem to want most anymore.

“I’d say the tide has turned and investors are much more focused on greater returns, free cash flow [and] return of capital,” Mr. Sokalsky, who was named chief executive last month, said in an interview.

“I think the environment and investor demands have accelerated a process of the industry being more disciplined in how they’re managing their business.”

In other words, do not expect gold companies to greenlight many high-risk, remote, multibillion-dollar projects in this environment. Instead, Barrick’s focus will be on better capital management and optimizing investor returns, and experts said other senior gold companies are likely to follow suit, if they haven’t already.