The Globe and Mail reports in its Tuesday edition that Barrick Gold's proposed new chief executive officer, Mark Bristow, is a larger-than-life character, whose hobby is riding motorcycles across the most dangerous and remote corners of the African continent. The Globe's Geoffrey York writes that despite his success, Mr. Bristow could be an odd fit in Barrick's bureaucratic environment. He is notoriously outspoken, often making blunt pronouncements on the perceived errors of investors, politicians and other mining companies. The 59-year-old miner has manoeuvred shrewdly through Africa's challenges, building his Randgold Resources into a multibillion-dollar empire with major projects in Mali, Ivory Coast and Congo. However, when the Congolese government announced a plan to hike mining taxes this year, he lashed out furiously at the plan, and when investors nervously sold off Randgold stock in response to the Congo tax dispute, he lashed out at them, too, criticizing the market reaction as "pathetic" and panicky. He has been scathing in his response to Africans who blame colonialism or apartheid for their economic woes, saying, "It sometimes doesn't realize you have to get up in the morning and do a day's work."