Feb. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Barrick Gold Corp. Chief Executive Officer Aaron Regent wants to expand through acquisitions and said his company, the world’s largest gold producer, can act swiftly if opportunities arise.

Barrick is able to access credit and equity markets easily to finance investments, Regent said today in an interview on the sidelines of the BMO Capital Markets Global Metals & Mining Conference in Hollywood, Florida. He declined to comment on whether the Toronto-based company has plans to raise cash.

“We’re positioned to respond quickly to the extent that opportunities come up,” Regent said. “The good thing about our position is that we have pretty good access to capital across the board -- bond markets, bank markets, equity markets.”

Barrick fell C$1.40, or 3 percent, to C$44.68 at 4:21 p.m. in Toronto Stock Exchange trading. The shares gained 3.1 percent this year through Feb. 20.

Regent, who took his post last month, has 27 operating mines as well as new projects in the Dominican Republic, Argentina and the U.S. Barrick’s rivals, including Newmont Mining Corp. and Kinross Gold Corp., have taken advantage in recent weeks of increased investor appetite for gold-producer stocks to sell new equity and replenish cash.

In determining the optimal balance sheet for Barrick, Regent said he will look to “drive down the cost of capital and manage maturities” of debt.

“The objective is to have a capital structure that can support our business, not only existing operations and projects, but you also want to make sure you have financial flexibility to take advantage of investment opportunities,” he said.

Geographical Diversity

The company, with projects in Pakistan and South Africa and mines in countries including Tanzania and Papua New Guinea, has sufficient geographical diversification to consider regions that smaller companies with a narrower spread of mines might not, he said. Barrick will look at acquisitions of all sizes, he said.

Regent’s predecessor, Greg Wilkins, made several purchases in recent years. Under his tenure, the purchase of Placer Dome Inc. in 2006 vaulted Barrick into first place among the world’s gold producers, ahead of Denver-based Newmont.

Since then, Barrick bought Arizona Star Resources Corp., the Kainantu gold mine in Papua New Guinea, a stake in the Cortez mine in Nevada from Rio Tinto Plc and Cadence Energy Inc. to offset rising fuel costs.

The company is now more likely to use “financial contracts” to hedge future fuel expenses, Regent said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Stewart Bailey in New York at sbailey7@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: February 23, 2009 16:53 EST