The Globe and Mail reports in its Saturday edition that Barrick Gold plans to sell at least five more mines, as the company doubles down on its strategy to focus on profitable mining over increasing production. The Globe's Niall McGee writes that in a wide-ranging town hall speech made earlier this week to employees, executive chairman John Thornton also made it clear that the company has no interest in buying Detour Gold, despite a Bloomberg report a few weeks ago that said Barrick was an "undisclosed bidder" for the struggling junior gold company. Barrick has been relentlessly selling assets over the past few years after its debt ballooned to $15.8-billion (U.S.) in 2013. "We have some assets right now which are neither Tier 1, nor strategic," Mr. Thornton said. "The likelihood of us continuing to own these over time is zero." He defined Tier 1 as a mine that produces 500,000 ounces of gold a year, has a life of more than 10 years and is low cost. Mr. Thornton used its Veladero mine in Argentina as an example of a strategic asset. Barrick is planning on selling Kalgoorlie in Australia, Hemlo in Northern Ontario and Lagunas Norte in Peru. It is also planning to sell its interest in Porgera, in Papua New Guinea.