Recasts, adds details from conference call on divestment of risky assets in paragraph 1, 2, 3 and 4

By Pranav Mathur and Divya Rajagopal

May 11 (Reuters) - Barrick Mining ABX.TO is looking to divest riskier African assets and non-controlling assets, as the Canadian-listed miner aims for a U.S. listing of its North American assets by the end of the year, the company's CEO said on Monday.

Barrick beat estimates for first-quarter profit on Monday, helped by record gold prices. It also approved a $3 billion share repurchase program.

"We are trying to focus our growth in more stable areas where we have more certainty around the mining regime," CEO Mark Hill said on a call with analysts. "I mean, obviously... you can see with what's happened in Africa recently, which countries would obviously not be ideal for investment."

He did not mention any countries by name. Barrick has mines in Mali, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia.

Hill indicated that the Porgera mine in Papua New Guinea in which it has 24% minority ownership would be considered a non-core asset.

In Mali, the company resolved a year-long dispute with the military-led government in late 2025. Barrick executives said the company was evaluating all strategic options for its Mali assets.

Gold prices hit record highs during the quarter, averaging $4,673.5 an ounce, up roughly 63% from a year earlier, as investors sought safe-haven assets amid geopolitical tensions and growing expectations of interest rate cuts.

Rival Newmont NEM.N also topped estimates for first-quarter profit last month.

While prices have eased slightly in recent weeks following an oil-driven inflation scare linked to the U.S.–Israel war with Iran, bullion remains well above year-ago levels.

Barrick's quarterly average realized price for gold stood at $4,823 per ounce, 66% higher than a year earlier.

The company's all-in sustaining costs, an indicator of cost of production, fell 4% in the three months ended March 31 to $1,708 per ounce.

The Canadian miner posted first-quarter net earnings of $1.6 billion, which tripled from a year earlier.

Barrick's gold production fell 5% in the period to 719,000 ounces.

But the company said it expects to ramp up output at its Loulo-Gounkoto mine in Mali and Goldrush mine in Nevada as well as improved mine operations across its Nevada Gold Mines operations in the next quarter. It also expects increased production at its Kibali site in the Democratic Republic of Congo later in the year.

Barrick forecast gold output to rise to between 730,000 and 770,000 ounces in the second quarter and increase further in the second half of 2026.

The miner continued to advance plans for an IPO of North American Barrick, a new entity that will hold some of the company's flagship assets like Nevada Gold Mines, Pueblo Viejo and the Fourmile project.

Barrick reported an adjusted first-quarter profit of 98 cents per share, beating the average analysts' expectation of 78 cents per share, according to data compiled by LSEG.