Aoife McGrath, who was named among the 100 Global Inspirational Women in Mining and whose experience spans the spectrum of company sizes and exploration stages, will head up exploration for Africa and the Middle East.

Leandro Sastre - who was previously mine operations and technical manager at Veladero, Barrick's 50:50 joint venture with Shandong Gold in Argentina - will oversee Latin America and Asia Pacific.

President and CEO Mark Bristow said the appointments reflected Barrick's commitment to what it regarded as its main growth driver.

"Exploration has always been an integral part of Barrick's strategy of creating value and we look forward to the contribution Aoife and Leandro will make towards adding to our global mineral inventory," he said.

Barrick had highlighted its "refocus on geology as a core discipline" in February when it unveiled a 14.5% increase in ounces at a 7.7% higher grade in its attributable gold reserve of 1.3 billion tonnes at 1.68g/t for 71 million ounces, after depletion from mining.

The figure was also impacted by the company incorporating Randgold Resources, forming the Nevada Gold Mines JV with Newmont and selling its stake in Kalgoorlie Consolidated Gold Mines in Australia.

Barrick said in July it was on track to achieve 2020 production guidance despite ramifications of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Its Toronto-listed shares are near a one-year high, last trading at C$38.71 to capitalise it at $68.8 billion (US$51.4 billion).