Barrick Gold, the Canadian mining major, announced a decrease in net income for the second quarter, attributed to lower production and increased costs during the period. The company reported a decline in net income to $305 million, or 17 cents a share, in comparison to $488 million, or 27 cents a share, from the previous year.
Adjusted earnings also experienced a decline, falling to 19 cents a share from 24 cents a share, although analysts on FactSet had anticipated an even greater decrease to 17 cents.
Barrick Gold’s sales for the period showed a slight decrease to $2.83 billion from $2.86 billion, missing analyst expectations which predicted a rise to $2.9 billion.
Gold production declined to 1.01 million ounces from 1.04 million ounces in the previous year, while the all-in sustaining cost rose by 12% to $1,355 per ounce from $1,212 per ounce. However, realized gold prices were higher at $1,972 per ounce compared to $1,861 per ounce.
In addition, copper production also experienced a decline of 11% to 101 million pounds, and all-in sustaining costs rose to $3.13 per pound compared to $2.87 per pound.