Thursday, 5th April 2007 (3202 views)

The world's largest gold miner says that its size is fundamental in allowing it to take on riskier investments and hence retain market hegemony.

The Canadian group Barrick Gold, despite regretting its share performance compared to smaller mining groups, says that its size is allowing it to moot investments in areas which other groups would consider precarious, reports Reuters Canada.

Achieving pre-eminence through its $10 billion (£506 million) acquisition of rival Candian mining group Placer Dome, James Mavor, vice president of investor relations at the group, said it provided Barrick with "the scale to deal with the issues that are facing the mining industry".

With feasible mining operations becoming scarcer around the globe, Mr Mavor said that with a multi-billion dollar market cap, "we can afford to go into riskier ventures, the riskier areas, and manage it on a portfolio basis".

Since the start of 2006, Barrick Gold's share price has increased by 13 per cent, with average junior and intermediate mining companies having experienced an average growth of 86 per cent during the same period.

 

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