Mark Bristow

President & CEO Barrick Gold Corporation

Mark Bristow is the president and chief executive of Barrick Gold Corporation (NYSE:GOLD) (TSX:ABX).  Formerly, he was chief executive of Randgold Resources, the company he built from a small Africa-focused exploration business into one of the industry’s most profitable and best managed gold miners.

Following the Barrick and Randgold merger, Bristow restructured and restrategised Barrick, and within months he was the prime mover in the combination of the Nevada assets of Barrick and Newmont, creating the world’s single largest gold mining complex, Nevada Gold Mines, majority-owned and operated by Barrick.

Bristow leads an organisation with mines and projects in 18 countries, focused on long-life, high-margin gold and copper assets and containing six of the world’s Tier One gold mines. 

For Bristow, sustainability is firmly entrenched in Barrick’s DNA, integrated into its decision-making processes and takes place on the ground every single day.  He believes that the challenge of fighting poverty, climate change and biodiversity loss are deeply connected and that the best approach to ESG is to tackle these challenges through a holistic and integrated approach in order to effect a lasting positive impact.  This philosophy and the view that miners should behave as custodians of a national resource can only be achieved through a partnership with the host governments and local communities. 

A geologist by profession, Bristow holds a doctorate in geology.  His goal is to make Barrick the world’s most valued gold and copper producer, owning the best assets, managed by the best people, and delivering industry leading returns.