The world's biggest gold-miner, Barrick Gold, has named chartered accountant Aaron Regent as the company's new CEO, effective January 16.

Regent, 43, who was president of Canadian nickel-miner Falconbridge when the company was bought by Xstrata Resources in 2006, said on Tuesday he believed the gold industry had reached an "exciting" and "challenging" point.

He is currently senior managing partner of Brookfield Asset Management Inc and co-CEO of its Infrastructure Group.

Brookfield is a global asset management company with over $90-billion under management.

Regent takes the reins from Barrick founder, chairperson and interim CEO Peter Munk, who stepped into the CEO role temporarily in March after Greg Wilkins, who was also an accountant, took an extended leave of absence owing to illness.

Wilkins then announced his resignation in July.

Regent "progressed swiftly through increasingly senior executive roles" from an early point in his career, Barrick said on Tuesday morning.

"Aaron is uniquely qualified to both preserve Barrick's leadership position and to take us forward," Munk said.

Munk said in October that the company was interviewing candidates internally and elsewhere, in what he called "the most important thing a board has to decide".

"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 commented.

"I am really pleased to join the company at a time that is both exciting and challenging for the gold industry."

Regent takes the helm of the world's biggest bullion producer at a time when many smaller mining firms are desperate for funds to meeting working requirements or complete capital projects.

The mining sector has been hard hit by the scarcity of available credit and low share valuations, which make equity fundraisings near impossible.

Although it has fared better than other commodities, particularly base metals, gold has fallen from a record high in March this year of $1 030,80/oz to around $832/oz on Tuesday afternoon.

Barrick CFO Jamie Sokalsky said in October that the company was examining potential acquisitions, and was looking at "just about everything in the marketplace".

At the time, the group had a fully undrawn credit facility of $1,5-billion, plus a cash position of $1,7-billion.

Toronto-based Barrick has 27 operating mines and is planning or building new ones in Tanzania, the Dominican Republic, Argentina, the US and Chile, as it seeks to boost output levels and lower costs with more efficient operations.

The group said in October it expected that production in 2008 would be between 7,6-million and 7,8-million ounces of gold, at total cash costs of between $425/oz and $445/oz.

Barrick became the world's number-one gold producer after it ousted Newmont Mining from the top spot in 2006, when it bought smaller rival Placer Dome.

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