VANCOUVER (miningweekly.com) – The world’s largest gold bullion producer Barrick Gold has reported a 19% drop in first-quarter gold output that totalled 1.05-million ounces for the period ended March 31.
Copper output fell 10.5% year-on-year to 85-million, reflecting the company’s strategic divestment of noncore assets as it continues to repair the balance sheet and stream line its production portfolio.
The Toronto-headquartered miner reported first-quarter sales of 1.07-million ounces of gold, and 85-million pounds of copper.
The average market price for gold in the first quarter was $1 329/oz, while the average market price for copper was $3.16/lb.
Barrick cautioned that its first-quarter realised copper price is expected to be about 5% below the average first-quarter market price for copper, as a result of provisional pricing adjustments that reflect the downward trend in copper prices over the period.
Barrick expects to publish first-quarter results on April 23.