Toronto — Barrick Gold executives will have some explaining to do when the company releases full-year results on Wednesday. Even with rising gold prices and a strengthened balance sheet, the world’s largest gold producer left shareholders with the worst returns among its top North American peers last year and the third-worst performance in the 15-company BI Global Senior Gold Valuation Peers index. That is a sharp reversal of the heady gains a year earlier when the Toronto-based company appeared unable to put a foot wrong. In 2016, Barrick’s Canadian shares soared 110% as it unveiled a sweeping plan to streamline the company. That same year its biggest rival, Newmont Mining, rose 89%. Notwithstanding the recent global stock rout that has sunk equities globally, Colorado-based Newmont’s shares have gained, while Barrick has stumbled. The widening gap between the two companies can partly be explained by what appear, at least, to be diverging strategies. While Newmont executives have i...
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