Bengaluru — Barrick Mining beat analysts’ expectation for second-quarter profit on Monday, as a surge in gold prices helped the miner offset a drop in production.
Prices of the precious metal have been consistently touching record highs over the past few quarters, as uncertainty over US President Donald Trump’s tariff plans and geopolitical concerns, which could fuel inflation and slow economic growth, raised gold’s safe-haven appeal.
Gold prices averaged $3,220.58/oz in the second quarter, over 12% higher than the preceding quarter and nearly 40% above levels seen a year earlier.
Barrick said its average realised gold price for the reported quarter rose to $3,295/oz from $2,344 a year earlier. However, its production decreased to 797,000oz in the quarter from 948,000oz a year earlier.
Military government
Barrick said it was forced to suspend operations in mid-January after Mali’s military-led government blocked its exports for two months, detained some of its executives and seized 3 tonnes of bullion. It launched arbitration at the World Bank to try to resolve the dispute.
In June, the Loulo-Gounkoto gold complex in Mali was placed under state control by a court in a major escalation of a dispute over taxes and ownership.
While drilling and other extractive activities have not yet begun, operations at the site’s plant, which processes ore stocks into gold, restarted on July 7, according to sources.
For 2025, Barrick continues to expect total gold production between 3.15-million ounces and 3.5-million ounces.
The company said it repurchased 13.5-million shares during the quarter under the share buyback programme announced in February. On an adjusted basis, the company earned 47c per share in the second quarter, compared with analysts’ average expectation of 45c, according to data compiled by LSEG.
Reuters
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