UPDATE 2-Barrick beats Q1 profit estimates on record gold prices, unveils $3 bln buyback
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May 11 (Reuters) - Barrick Mining ABX.TO beat estimates for first-quarter profit on Monday, helped by record gold prices, while the miner also approved a $3 billion share repurchase program ahead of the planned IPO of its North American Barrick 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 for 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 conflict with Iran, bullion remains well above year-ago levels.
Barrick's quarterly average realized price for gold was 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, more than triple of year-ago levels.
Barrick's gold production fell 5% during 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, U.S. and improved mine sequencing across its Nevada Gold Mines operations in the next quarter. It also sees 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 the 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 average analysts' expectation of 78 cents per share, according to data compiled by LSEG.