(Kitco News) - Higher gold prices in the final months of 2023 helped the world’s largest gold producer top fourth-quarter earning estimates.
Wednesday, ahead of the North American trading session, Barrick Gold reported adjusted net earnings of $466 million or $0.27 per share for the fourth quarter of 2023. The company’s earnings handily beat analyst estimates of $0.21 per share.
Adjusted net years for the full year totaled $1.467 billion, up from $1.326 billion reported in 2022.
Along with its earnings growth, the company said it will put some of that money to work, announcing a $1 billion share buy-back program for 2024. The company also declared a fourth-quarter dividend of $0.10 per share.
The company’s solid performance came as it saw softer annual gold and copper production. Barrick said it produced 1.054 million ounces of gold between October and December, up from 1.039 million ounces produced in the fourth quarter of 2024. However, its full-year gold production came in at 4.054 million ounces, down from 4.141 million ounces mined in 2022.
The company’s copper production showed a similar pattern, with 113 million pounds mined in the fourth quarter of last year, roughly unchanged from the fourth quarter of 2022. However, Barrick’s annual copper production last year totaled 420 million ounces, down slightly from 440 million pounds produced in 2022.
The company noted that despite picking up the pace in the latter half of the year, it couldn’t quite make up for the challenges it faced in the first half of the year.
“In true Barrick fashion, we kept our focus, dealt with the challenges, progressed our long-term strategic plans and delivered on some of our key objectives. Most significantly, we have sustained our industry-leading organic growth outlook and are still projecting a 30% increase in gold equivalent3 production by the end of this decade,” said Mark Bristow, CEO of Barrick Gold.
Although annual production was lower last year compared to the previous year, higher gold prices made up for the shortfall. Barrick said it saw a realized gold price of $1,986 an ounce in the fourth quarter of 2023, up from $1,928 an ounce reported in the final months of 2022. For the year, the company’s realized gold price rose to $1,948 an ounce, up significantly from $1,795 reported in 2022.
Looking at some of the highlights in the final months of 2023, the company said Nevada Gold Mines had a stronger fourth quarter on the back of higher grades and operational improvements; at the same time, Pueblo Viejo advanced the commissioning of the expansion plant, addressing most of the equipment failures.
The company also said that as the year came to a close, its joint-venture Nevada Gold Cortez mine received the U.S. government’s Record of Decision for the Goldrush project. Barrick said it immediately started work on its surface infrastructure accesses. Goldrush is forecast to produce approximately 130,000 ounces of gold this year, rising to 400,000 by 2028.
