NEW YORK_Barrick Gold is snapping up mining assets with its excess cash, inking a $465 million cash deal to buy a gold and copper project from a unit of Xstrata.

The Toronto-based company will acquire a 70 percent interest in a Xstrata Plc's El Morrow project, an advanced gold-copper project located in the Atacama Region in Chile.

According to Xstrata reports, the properties hold about 8.3 ounces of gold resources and about 6.3 billion pounds of copper resources.

Shares of Barrick Gold Corp. rose 27 cents to $39.75 in premarket trading.

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