Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) on Thursday reported preliminary Q2 production of 1.04M oz of gold and 120M lbs of copper, which it says is good enough to maintain full-year gold and copper guidance, as the company expects gold production will increase through the year.
The miner has forecast FY 21022 attributable production of 4.2M-4.6M oz of gold and 420M-470M lbs of copper.
Barrick (GOLD) said preliminary Q2 gold production was higher than Q1 due to a stronger performance across the portfolio, particularly at Carlin, Turquoise Ridge, Veladero, Bulyanhulu and North Mara.
Compared to Q1, Q2 gold cost of sales per oz is expected to come in 1%-3% higher, and all-in sustaining costs per oz are forecast to be 3%-5% higher.
Preliminary Q2 copper output was higher than Q1, driven by Lumwana as planned, but copper sales were in line with Q1 due to the timing of shipments.
Barrick’s (GOLD) free cash flow “appears likely to outpace their dividends and thus raises the prospects for their variable dividends to be revised relatively higher in the future,” Daniel Thurecht writes in a bullish analysis posted recently on Seeking Alpha.
