RE:Barrick CEO calls Great Bear Resources cow sh*tWhat a bush-league comment from Mr. Bristow.
Even if he / she is genuinely not interested in acquiring a rival, any CEO with any degree of professionalism would not use such awful language and mockery, especially on the record. It's simple: say you don't think K would be a good fit for your company and aren't interested in pursuing an acquisition of it (or words to that effect), thus ending speculation without resorting to insults. Like they say in sports, don't give an opposing team any "bulletin board material" to serve as additonal motivation.
If, as the article state, Barrick "....had long coveted" GBR, interesting to note that Bristow became CEO of Barrick in January 2019 (3 1/2 years ago) so I assume the "coveting" went on during his tenure. Sounds like sour grapes to me.
I assume that in characterizing "......the assets as marginal and compared them to cow____", he's referring to K's portfolio of assets taken as a whole. If he believes that, that's fine, don't acquire K, but don't publicly bash them either.
As one of the characters from the cartoon show "Fat Albert" once said: "(Bristow) is like school during summer vacation. No class."