TORONTO — Barrick Gold Corp. saw its second quarter profit surge almost 20 per cent since last year as it grappled with near 40-year high inflation in Canada.
The Toronto-based gold-miner, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, said Monday that its profit for the period ended June 30 amounted to US$488 million, up nearly 19 per cent from US$411 million in the same quarter last year.
The profit amounted to 27 cents per diluted share for the quarter ended June 30 compared with 23 cents per share a year ago.
In a call with analysts, Barrick CEO Mark Bristow highlighted that the company managed to record the profit despite economic and global headwinds.
“We’re absolutely in inflationary times, and we can wish that away, but it’s not going to happen until somebody does something about it, so we are dealing with costs,” he said.
“And on top of that, we’ve got the Eastern European crisis, which has brought a very stressed fuel market to bear.”
Bristow feels handling the intensifying inflation will take diligence, agility, innovation and a highly-skilled workforce — all which he feels Barrick has.
“We’re absolutely comfortable with our ability to manage the cyclicality of the commodities that we mine,” he said.
“We’ve taken about $500 million out of Barrick’s logistics, supply chain and procurement, and in fact, we’ve got budgeted improvements again this year that will offset the inflation pressure.”
Though some predict inflation will soon plateau, Bristow warned his experience from 40 years ago is causing him to take a cautious approach.
“Like every crisis and particularly every big inflation period or global economic crisis that I’ve lived through, it’s always worse than it seems, and it takes longer to come out of,” he said.
His remarks came as Barrick said its second quarter revenue totalled US$2.86 billion, down from US$2.89 billion in the second quarter last year.
On an adjusted basis, Barrick earned 24 cents per share, down from 29 cents per share a year ago.
Gold production in the quarter was 1,043,000 ounces, up from 1,041,000 in the same quarter of 2021, while its average realized gold price rose to US$1,861 an ounce compared with US$1,820 a year ago.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 8, 2022.
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