He will start on September 1 at the third-ranked gold producer, replacing outgoing CEO Srinivasan Venkatakrishnan, who finishes his tenure at the end of August to head up Vedanta Resources.

Dushnisky has been at Barrick since 2002, where he worked under Peter Munk, and was appointed president in 2015.

Barrick hasn't announced a replacement as president for the University of British Columbia-trained lawyer, although BMO analyst Andrew Kaip floated Barrick CFO Catherine Raw as the leading internal candidate.

AngloGold chairman Sipho Pityana was clearly impressed with Dushnisky's experience managing difficult political situations.

"Kelvin brings to us an impeccable set of values, a deep understanding of operating a large, complex global portfolio of mining assets and projects, and a keen familiarity of an evolving geopolitical landscape," he said.

"He will head a strong, cohesive team committed to executing AngloGold Ashanti's strategy of sustainably improving returns, through disciplined capital allocation."

Barrick has spent over a year wrangling with the Tanzanian government over 63%-owned splinter company Acacia Mining's export rights.

Dushnisky is chairman of Acacia.

Most recently, the world's most prolific gold miner said it would not put a deadline on a deal.

AngloGold also runs a mine in Tanzania, and its ‘continental African' division provided the largest single share of production to the company's 3.75-million-ounce haul in 2017.

Barrick executive chairman John Thornton extended gratitude to Dushnisky for his commitment over the years and his contribution to the company's growth and development.

In a speech in London in May paying tribute to Munk, who died in March, he joked about his former boss's approach to leadership.

"I worked with Peter for the better part of 15 years. I think it's probably fair to say for the first five or six of those he thought I worked in the photocopying room," he said.

"[Last year] I reminded him about that, and he said ‘yeah it's true, I did think that, and don't forgot you could go back there pretty quickly, so be careful'."

Dushnisky also said Barrick's esprit de corps was "much more akin to a family than an organisation".

Barrick does not detail individual executive pay but it's unlikely he'll be taking less than outgoing AngloGold CEO Venkatakrishnan, who was paid US$2.1 million in 2017 in base salary and bonuses.

Barrick's share price was down 2.9% on the news to C$15.76 (US$12) per share.

Dushnisky is moving to Johannesburg for the new job.