Barrick Gold Corp., the world's biggest gold producer, named former Falconbridge Ltd. President Aaron Regent as its new chief executive officer, ending a nine- month search to replace Greg Wilkins.

Regent, 43, is a chartered accountant and senior managing partner of Brookfield Asset Management Inc., a Canadian fund with $90 billion in assets, Toronto-based Barrick said today in a statement. Effective Jan. 16, he will replace Wilkins, who stepped down in March because of illness, the company said.

Regent takes control of Barrick as the worst economic slowdown since the Great Depression forces the company to reduce costs and conserve cash while continuing to dig mines in the Dominican Republic, Argentina, Tanzania and Alaska.

Regent "is highly regarded in both the mining and investment businesses," Greg Barnes, an analyst at TD Newcrest Inc. in Toronto, said today in a note to clients. "Putting to rest the uncertainty over the leadership of the company, prior to year-end, should also be viewed positively."

Barrick rose 52 cents, or 1.3 percent, to C$40.78 as of 9:47 a.m. in Toronto Stock Exchange trading. The shares declined 3.6 percent this year through yesterday.

Gold fell 90 cents, or 0.1 percent, to $846.30 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The metal, often purchased as a buffer against inflation or financial instability, is little changed this year. Copper and oil both have dropped by more than half.

Gold Performance

"In these times in particular, gold is a unique property as a store of value that is emerging as an asset class of increasing importance," Regent said in the statement.

Regent is also joint CEO of Toronto-based Brookfield's infrastructure unit, which invests in electricity assets in Canada and South America, according to the fund's Web site. The unit has investments in 11,000 kilometers (6,840 miles) of power lines in the Americas and the establishment of a $2.8 billion Chilean Transmission Fund in 2006.

Among the largest of Barrick's new mines is the Pascua Lama project, which straddles the border between Chile and Argentina. The mine has been delayed while the countries' governments decide how the operations should be taxed. Barrick also has mines in Peru, Argentina and Chile. Barrick Chairman and founder Peter Munk, 81, stepped in as acting CEO on March 27 after Wilkins took a leave of absence because of what the company described as a "serious medical condition."