Newcrest says it is still open for gold buys after Canadian deal

MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Sandeep Biswas Chief Executive Sandeep Biswas said on Monday that the company's balance sheet did not restrict it from further purchases, after the Australian miner said it would pay $806.5 million for a Canadian gold mine.

Biswas said Newcrest would look at other purchases that made sense, such as if anything of interest were to come out of a potential tie-up between Newmont Mining Corp and Barrick Gold Corp.

"If you look at the balance sheet metrics, we are still well within our financial metrics. ... If something were to come up that is of interest, then we certainly don’t see ourselves as restricted," he told Reuters.

(Reporting by Melanie Burton; Editing by Peter Cooney)