Barrick CEO: No Substance to Newmont Takeover Rumor
"If we're taking over Newmont, I must've missed that board meeting," Wilkins joked on CNBC.

Barrick has faced market speculation that it was pursuing Newmont -- the second-largest gold producer -- twice now in less than six months.

Wilkins pointed to internal growth efforts, citing five new mines it's commissioned since 2004 and eight more mine projects in the works. The CEO speculated that rumors of a takeover of Newmont surface because the two companies share property in Nevada.

Newmont Shares Remain Elevated

Shares of Newmont remained higher even after Barrick publicly refuted merger rumors earlier Tuesday.

"We previously said that this rumor had no substance to it, and again today that remains very much the case," Barrick spokesman Vincent Borg told Reuters in Toronto earlier in the day.

A spokesman for Denver-based Newmont declined to comment.

In morning New York Stock Exchange trade, Newmont shares rose more than 5 percent and the stock was the top percentage gainer. By the afternoon, it had eased back, but was still up more than 2 percent. Barrick was down more than 3 percent in New York and down C74 cents at C$33.14 in Toronto.

In options trading, there was a total is 102,405 calls and 16,591 puts, far outpacing average volume of 25,779 contracts, according to market research firm Track Data.