Aaron Regent,the new ceo of Barrick gold,says that the world's biggest gold miner,could seek to diversify,even though gold has so far largely been spared from the carnage in commodity markets.

Mr Regent,a former head of Falconbridge,the Toronto NICKEL producer said after his appointment at Barrick that the gold miner would use its strong position to look for other GROWTH OPPORTUNITIES.

The Toronto company operates 27 mines with an estimated output of 7.6 to 8.1m ounces of gold and 380-400m pounds of COPPER this year.

Barrick already has a sizeable exposure to copper through its ownership of the Zaldivar mine in Chile and the Osborne mine in Australia.It spent about C$500m last year to buy two small Alberta oil and gas producers as a hedge against then-soaring energy costs.

Barrick's balance sheet remains strong,with cash reserves totalling $1.7bn on September 30 and debt making up less than 15 per cent of capital.

Mr Regent,left Falconbridge after it was acquired by Xstrata,the Anglo-Swiss minig group,in 2006.

Inca gets a funny fealing cant help it.

Greetings,

Inca.