The Financial Post reports in its Thursday edition that 11 a.m. on the nose on Wednesday, Barrick's new chief executive officer, Mark Bristow, strolled into the company's 37th floor conference room and gave a nod to the packed room of bankers, analysts and media. The Post's Gabriel Friedman quotes the CEO saying in South African-inflected English: "We're starting something new here. Face-to-face quarterlies." In the first look forward since Barrick closed its $6-billion (U.S.) purchase of Mr. Bristow's former company, Randgold Resources, earlier this year, he spent nearly an hour providing a detailed look at his plans for the newly combined company. Since springing into the long-empty CEO position at Barrick in January, the 60-year-old geologist said he has been on a mission to restore glory to the miner, which has suffered as its gold production declined and heavy debt loads ate into profits. Six weeks into the job, he already has swatted away criticism that the company is losing its Canadian focus. Mr. Bristow promised to avoid speculative acquisitions, and not to rush into selling assets. The point of the merger was not to increase production, but to create a company that could build "value" for shareholders.