The Globe and Mail reports in its Tuesday edition that Barrick Gold is hoping to be included in the S&P 500 index in the United States but plans to keep its head office in Canada. The Globe's Niall McGee writes that inclusion in the S&P 500 would result in increased buying of Toronto-based Barrick from large institutional investors, such as index funds. While specialist mining funds have been in decline over the past decade, index-tracking exchange-traded funds are making up a bigger swath of the investment pool. "That's something that's always been of interest to me, because if we got on the S&P, the index demand would increase substantially," Barrick chief executive officer Mark Bristow told The Globe. Barrick's primary stock listing is the Toronto Stock Exchange and it has a secondary listing in New York. Gaining entry to the S&P 500 is not straightforward. To be included on the marquee U.S. index, normally a company must be domiciled in the United States, should be headquartered in the U.S. and have more of its assets and revenue coming from the U.S. than anywhere else. Mr. Bristow said that while the process to get on the S&P 500 is "opaque" and "complicated," it can be done.