Barrick Gold director David Naylor resigns, will return to U of T

One of Barrick Gold Corp.'s new directors has resigned, a year after the miner revamped its board to add more independent members.

Barrick said on Monday that David Naylor was returning to a full-time academic position at the University of Toronto, where he previously served as president and dean of medicine.

Mr. Naylor was one of four independent directors who joined Barrick in April, 2014, when the company shook up its board in the wake of criticism that it did not exercise enough independence from former chairman Peter Munk.

The company has since added two more independent directors under new chairman John Thornton, though the board has also been criticized after its decision to award Mr. Thornton a pay raise in 2014.

When asked if Mr. Naylor would be replaced, a company spokesman said Barrick would "consider the matter in due course."

The company, the world's biggest gold producer, is repositioning itself to focus on the Americas and is selling off some of its global operations to reduce its $13-billion debt.