The Globe and Mail reports in its Thursday edition that Barrick chief Mark Bristow is signalling some regret that he did not buy Kirkland Lake Gold, a multibillion-dollar transaction that would have given the company a much bigger footprint in its home market and a lower risk profile. The Globe's Niall McGee writes that Barrick's shares have underperformed some of the company's peers over the past few years, in part because of its exposure to risky jurisdictions outside of Canada. Its Malian operations, which accounted for about 15 per cent of its production, were shut down in January amid a dispute with the West African country over dividing the economic spoils. Mali also jailed four Barrick executives and has an outstanding arrest warrant on Mr. Bristow. In addition, Barrick is embarking on the multiyear, multibillion-dollar construction of a giant copper and gold mine in Pakistan. A few years ago, Barrick had the chance to buy Kirkland Lake, but at the time, gold prices were trading at much lower levels and Kirkland's costs to extract the metal were higher than Barrick was comfortable with, so the investment case was not clear. Barrick ultimately walked and Agnico Eagle bought Kirkland in a $13-billion deal.