The world's largest gold-mining company is hoping to cope with skyrocketing energy costs by pumping some black gold of its own.

Barrick Gold Corp. is proposing to pay $350 million cash take over Cadence Energy Ltd. , a Calgary-based oil producer company that would be able to satisfy about one-quarter of the Toronto-based gold company's needs.

Vincent Borg, a senior vice-president at Barrick, said the acquisition of Cadence would help the company deal with cost pressures from rising oil prices.