By Robb M. Stewart
Barrick Gold Corp. held to its production guidance for the year after logging a rise in earnings for the first three months of the year, helped by a rise in gold price.
The Canadian company, one of the world's biggest producers of gold, recorded first-quarter net earnings of $295 million, or 17 cents a share, up from $120 million, or 7 cents, a year earlier. On an adjusted basis that strips out items including certain one-time costs and the impact of foreign exchange movements, earnings rose to 19 cents share, beating the 16 cents forecast by analysts polled by FactSet.
Revenue for the quarter was 3.9% higher at $2.75 billion, where analyst were expecting $2.77 billion.
Barrick's production of the precious metal in the quarter was down by 12,000 ounces on a year ago at 940,000 ounces, due in part to planned maintenance at its Nevada gold mines, while copper output was steady year-over-year at 40,000 metric tons but down 22% from the previous quarter with lower grades mined at its Lumwana operation in Zambia.
The miner said it expected costs at its top assets to track lower over the course of the year on steadily increasing production, and affirmed targets of 3.9 million to 4.3 million ounces of gold and 180,000 to 210,000 tons of copper in 2024.
Rival miner Newmont, the world's biggest gold producer, logged a 50% jump in sales to $4.02 billion for the first quarter after its attributable gold output jumped 32% to almost 1.7 million ounces.
Write to Robb M. Stewart at robb.stewart@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
05-01-24 0644ET
