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, 43, takes over from Greg Wilkins, who stepped down in March after being diagnosed with brain cancer. Peter Munk, 81, the company’s founder and chairman, has been acting chief executive since then.

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

Three gold projects under construction in Nevada, the Dominican Republic and Tanzania will add 1.9m ounces to production over the next three years.

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.

Greg Barnes, mining analyst at TD Newcrest, said that while one of Mr Regent’s priorities should be to consider further diversification, Barrick would be “unwise to jeopardise the premium that gold stocks have”.

The gold price stood at $843 an ounce on Tuesday, down from its spike above $1,000 in March, but little changed from a year ago.

Some analysts predict a decline in coming months as the recession takes a toll on consumer demand and easing inflationary pressures lessen the metal’s attractions as an inflation hedge.

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, an accountant by training, left Falconbridge after it was acquired by Xstrata, the Anglo-Swiss mining group, in 2006.