B2Gold Corp. is interested in acquiring any West African assets that Barrick Gold Corp. may consider as noncore after the latter completes its takeover of Randgold Resources Ltd., Reuters reported Oct. 13, citing B2Gold CEO Clive Johnson.

The Vancouver-based miner is particularly interested in projects it can develop to produce about 200,000 ounces of gold annually for at least 10 years, as opposed to already-built mines, Johnson said in the newswire's report.

Barrick and Randgold, which have properties in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Mali, Senegal, Tanzania and Zambia, have said they will focus on their best assets and may consider selling others.

Johnson said in the Reuters report that he does not expect other transactions similar to the Barrick-Randgold merger, with larger miners not approaching B2Gold for potential mergers.

"I think it will be pretty unlikely for a big company to come and make a premium offer for a company like ours," he said.

B2Gold's last major acquisition came in 2014, when it took over Papillon Resources Ltd., which owned the Fekola gold mine in Mali, in a US$570 million deal.