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Barrick Gold Corp. plunged after the world’s biggest bullion producer missed estimates on earnings and production — as well as costs after expenses increased at mines in Argentina and Nevada.
Reporting only its second earnings miss in seven consecutive quarters, the Toronto-based miner also said it expects to produce less gold this year after selling half of its Veladero mine in Argentina. Even as the company plans to sell the stake to a Chinese partner, costs jumped at the mine, and for the company overall. Shares fell 9.7 per cent at 11:08 a.m. in Toronto.
Barrick will need a strong performance in the coming quarters to meet guidance as the company kept its forecasts at other mines largely unchanged, Evan Kurtz, a Morgan Stanley analyst in New York, said in a note to clients.
All-in sustaining costs in the first quarter were $772 an ounce, compared with $706 an ounce a year earlier, Barrick said Monday in a statement. Analysts expected costs of $747, the average of six estimates.
In the first quarter, about 90 percent of the increased costs, or roughly $58 an ounce, was “a result of higher sustaining capital expenditures compared to the prior-year period,” Barrick said in the statement. These included higher costs at Veladero and stripping costs in Nevada.
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