News: NCM UPDATE 3-Newmont rejects Barrick's buyout offer, proposes Nevada JV

• Newmont CEO blasts Barrick's "egocentric" proposal
• Newmont proposes Barrick own 55 pct of new Nevada JV
• Barrick yet to formally respond to Newmont

(Adds details of proposed JV; updates stock)

March 4 (Reuters) - Newmont Mining Corp NEM.N rejected rival Barrick Gold Corp's ABX.TO $18 billion buyout offer on Monday but proposed a joint venture in Nevada instead, a deal worth billions that would create a major operator in the largest U.S. gold-producing region.

Both the rejection and the JV proposal were expected and Wall Street now awaits a response from Barrick, which was not immediately available for comment.

"Barrick's egocentric proposal is designed to transfer value from Newmont's shareholders to Barrick," Newmont Chief Executive Gary Goldberg said on a Monday investor call.

A Barrick takeover of Newmont would combine two of the biggest gold producers in the world at a time when both companies are trying to bolster shrinking gold reserves to boost growth as well as take advantage of rising prices.

Newmont said its Canadian rival's all-stock offer was not in the best interest of its shareholders as it was offered at a discount.

Barrick's offer of 2.5694 of its common shares for each Newmont share was equivalent to about $33 per share, which represented a discount of about $3 to Newmont's closing price on Feb. 25.

Newmont shares have fallen more than 7 percent since Barrick's offer.

Newmont on Monday reiterated its plans to go ahead with its deal to buy smaller rival Goldcorp Inc G.TO , which it said is significantly more accretive to its shareholders compared to Barrick's proposal.

"Barrick has described their proposal as an unprecedented value-creation opportunity, yet it is inferior to the Newmont-Goldcorp transaction," Goldberg said.

Barrick CEO Mark Bristow "has yet to prove he can successfully manage" a global mining company, Goldberg added.

Bristow joined Barrick two months ago after it bought Africa-focused Randgold Resources. That deal set off a fresh wave of bids in the mining industry, including Newmont's offer for smaller miner Goldcorp, which put the Colorado-based firm on track to become the world's biggest gold producer, ahead of Barrick.

NEVADA JOINT VENTURE Newmont has 19 mines and processing facilities in Nevada, which are adjacent to Barrick's operations.

Bristow said in an interview last week that he is frustrated his company has to "drive trucks past ... processing plants in Nevada, because Gary won't share with me," describing it as a waste of money that would be saved if the assets were combined.

Under Newmont's JV proposal, Barrick would hold a 55 percent stake in the new entity, while both companies will have equal representation in the management and technical committees.

Neither side seems to agree on the full value of the assets, though. Newmont's JV proposal uses publicly available materials to estimate value, as neither side has sat down to formally hash out how a JV could work.

The new terms come after Bristow last week raised concerns about the complexity of any JV operations. The logic of combining the company's Nevada assets seems clear to both sides, but the sticking point is control.

Reuters had reported in November that the miners were in talks to combine their operations in Nevada.

Barrick's shares were up about 1 percent at C$16.55 on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Newmont's shares rose less than 1 percent to $34.06 on the New York Stock Exchange.