Bullion major Barrick Gold has met its yearly guidance targets for the third consecutive year, producing 4.44-million ounces of gold and 415-million pounds of copper.
The group’s guidance for the year was to produce 4.4-million to 4.7-million ounces of gold. The Africa and Middle East, as well as the Latin America and Asia Pacific regions finished the year at the higher end of their regional guidance range, Barrick reported on Wednesday.
The company previously said that production from North America, which includes Nevada Gold Mines (NGM), would be at the lower end of the full-year guidance range. NGM, in which Barrick has a 61.5% stake, delivered 2.04-million attributable ounces in 2021.
Hemlo, in Canada, from which Barrick initially aimed to produce between 200 000 oz and 220 000 oz, yielded 150 000 oz in the year.
The preliminary fourth-quarter results show sales for the quarter of 1.23-million ounces of gold and 113-million pounds of copper, as well as quarterly production of 1.2-million ounces of gold and 126-million pounds of copper.
Fourth-quarter production increased on that of the third quarter, owing to the strong performance from Carlin and Cortez, in Nevada, following the repair of the Goldstrike roaster completed at the end of the third quarter, which allowed for increased processing of material mined from both sites.
Quarterly sales were also up on the third quarter as Veladero sold a portion of its built-up gold inventory.
The miner noted that fourth-quarter gold costs would be lower than the previous quarter’s.
Fourth-quarter copper production increased quarter-on-quarter, owing to higher throughput levels at Lumwana, in Zambia.