He was addressing delegates to the Investing in African Mining conference shortly after Barrick Gold managed to secure control of US miner Placer Dome.

By this week Barrick had acquired 94% of Placer Dome’s shares.

In SA Placer Dome has a joint venture with Western Areas on the South Deep gold mine, which is one of the biggest and deepest gold ore bodies in the world, and in the Sedibelo platinum project in the Eastern Bushveld.

Davidson said Barrick Gold had never operated in SA before, although it had other projects in Africa and a number of its key staff had experience in SA.

It was committed to its two South African projects, although it would take time to become fully informed.

Earlier this week Western Areas downgraded its estimate of mineral reserves at South Deep to 29,3-million ounces from a previous estimate of 55-million ounces.

It emphasised that the downgrade would affect only the second phase of development, where production would not begin for another 20 years.

The mine, which formed part of the assets of Brett Kebble’s JCI, has been plagued by lengthy delays and escalating capital costs in the past few years.

Davidson said that he was not concerned about the downgrade in South Deep’s proven resource estimates as it would have no effect on plans to boost output at the mine in coming years.

“It really confirms the reserve that is accessible above infrastructure and increases that, so we look at it as a positive development,” he said.

Davidson said it was natural that Barrick would take up an offer by Gold Fields to help on South Deep.

Barrick expected to hold talks with Gold Fields on possible co-operation on adjacent mines, he said.

Gold Fields’ Kloof mine was adjacent to South Deep. Gold Fields said late last year, before Barrick acquired its stake, that it had held sporadic talks on working with South Deep, but nothing concrete had emerged.

He told the conference Barrick was also aggressively pursuing the Sedibelo platinum project and planned to begin a pre-feasibility study this year.

He said Africa had become a significant business unit for Barrick, which was operating in Tanzania on properties acquired in 1999.

Pro forma gold production from Tanzania last year was 640000oz and the country was a great success story in Africa.

The country had attracted some of the world’s top gold companies, which were able to operate in an environment of political stability.

Barrick’s total combined exploration budget, including Placer Dome’s pipeline, was $120m last year.

The group is also exploring in Mali and Burkina Faso as well as in a number of areas around Lake Victoria.

Charlotte Mathews, Reuters