Excerpts from Aaron Regent’s recent interviews.

Mr Regent, a former head of Falconbridge, the Toronto nickel producer, told the Financial Times after his appointment at Barrick was announced on Tuesday that the gold miner would use its strong position to look for other growth opportunities.

“I see it as a gold company,” Mr. Regent said, adding however, that “there’s some merit in having some diversification”.

Mr. Regent admits that his No. 1 challenge is finding ways to expand Barrick,

Aaron Regent indicated there would be no bold shift in strategy.

He added that Barrick will continue to grow through three main avenues: exploration, project development, and acquisitions.

Barrick has at least seven other projects in various stages of development, but few of those are pure gold deposits.

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 (US$411m) this year to buy two small Alberta oil and gas producers as a hedge against then-soaring energy costs.

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