The Financial Post reports in its Tuesday edition that Sprott chief executive officer Peter Grosskopf has long fielded the same question while talking up gold to investors: Why does Warren Buffett dislike the precious metal? The Post's Gabriel Friedman writes that Mr. Grosskopf may never have to answer the question again. On Friday afternoon, after years of trashing gold as an investment, Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. revealed it had switched course and purchased 20.9 million shares in Barrick Gold in a transaction worth an estimated $563.5-million (U.S.) at the end of the second quarter. "I think that now he seems to have come around to the fact that he can be comfortable with gold as a store of value," said Mr. Grosskopf. "I think people are finally realizing it's a legitimate part of a portfolio." Others seemed to quickly catch on: Barrick's stock was up 11.3 per cent to $39.84 on Monday, as gold closed in on the $2,000-an-ounce mark. During the past 12 months, Barrick's stock has surged 65 per cent, steadily rising as a groundswell of investors flocked to gold as a safe haven amid declining real interest rates, economic uncertainty and a global health pandemic that is unprecedented in modern history.