TORONTO, May 1 (Reuters) - Barrick Gold ( GOLD ) is not

interested in bidding for Anglo American, which last

week received a $39 billion takeover offer from BHP,

and is building its own copper portfolio, the Canadian miner's

CEO Mark Bristow said on Wednesday.

If BHP's proposed acquisition of Anglo is successful, it

would create one of the world's biggest copper miners.

Analysts and investors expect rival bids to emerge after

BHP's offer was rejected last week by Anglo, which said it was

opportunistic, significantly undervaluing the company and its

future prospects.

"We are not interested in bidding for Anglo American, as we

are building (copper assets) of our own," Bristow told Reuters.

Bristow is betting on developing the Reko Diq copper project

in Pakistan in which it holds a 50% stake, the first phase of

which is expected to cost $5.5 billion.

Barrick is in talks with the International Finance

Corporation and other agencies to raise at least $2 billion for

the first phase of the project, Bristow added.

Reko Diq, one of the biggest yet-to-be-developed copper

mines in the world, is also 50% owned by the government of

Pakistan. Saudi Arabia is in talks to buy part of the stake from

the Pakistan government.

In Mali, where Barrick has a gold mine, the military-led

government was last year in talks with miners over a change to

its mining law that could see it boost state and private Malian

interests in new projects to 35% from up to 20% previously.

However Bristow said that the company has received written

assurances from the junta that there was no threat of its assets

being nationalized.