Barrick Gold is in late-stage talks to buy Randgold Resources -source

By John Tilak and Susan Taylor

(Reuters) - Canada's Barrick Gold Corp <ABX.TO> is in late-stage talks to acquire Randgold Resources Ltd <RRS.L>, which operates mines in Africa, a person familiar with the matter said on Sunday.

A deal is expected to be announced within the next day, said people with knowledge of it. Mark Bristow, the chief executive of Randgold, will become CEO of the combined company, one of the sources said. Reuters could not determine the value of the possible deal.

Bloomberg News reported earlier that a deal was imminent, after it was first reported by mining blog IKN. https://bloom.bg/2QUaYa7

Barrick does not currently have a president after Kelvin Dushinsky left to join AngloGold Ashanti Ltd <ANGJ.J> as CEO.

Barrick has a market capitalization of C$18.78 billion ($14.53 billion) and Randgold has a market capitalization of 4.6 billion British pounds ($6.02 billion), according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

($1 = 1.2925 Canadian dollars)

(Reporting by John Tilak in Toronto and Susan Taylor in Washington: Additional reporting by Mekhla Raina in Bengaluru; Editing by Will Dunham and Peter Cooney)