Gold giant Barrick faces grilling after fall to the bottom of the pack

Barrick Gold Corp. executives will have some explaining to do when the company releases full-year results 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's 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 percent as it unveiled a sweeping plan to streamline the company. That same year its biggest rival, Newmont Mining Corp., rose 89 percent.

Notwithstanding the recent global stock rout that has sunk equities globally, Colorado-based Newmont's shares have gained, while Barrick has stumbled. ...

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