Newmont beats quarterly profit estimates on higher gold production
The world's biggest gold miner benefited from robust production and easing costs.
Shares in Tanzania-focused gold producer Acacia Mining (LON:ACA) soared almost 13% Friday after the miner said it expected full-year production to be 5% higher than a previous forecast of 750,000 ounces to 780,000 ounces.
Acacia Mining, which operates Bulyanhulu, North Mara and Buzwagi mines, saw its stock climb 12.94%, closing the session at 529p. The jump took the company’s gains this year to over 200%.
The miner’s s core profits increased to $124.8 million for the third quarter ending Sept. 30, more than five times its earnings a year earlier.
The miner expects full-year production to be 5% higher than a previous forecast of 750,000 ounces to 780,000 ounces.
Gold production for the period totalled 204,726 ounces compared with 163,888 ounces in the same quarter a year earlier.
“I am particularly pleased with North Mara’s performance this quarter, delivering 112,523 ounces at an all-in sustaining cost (“AISC”) of US$655 per ounce sold. This more than offset the impact of operational stoppages at Bulyanhulu and the deferred access to higher grades at Buzwagi,” chief executive Brad Gordon said in a statement.
The company, which is majority owned by Canada’s Barrick Gold — the world’s No.1 gold company — has been focused on bringing down costs, which were among the sector’s highest in 2013.
Earlier this year, Acacia was caught in a tax evasion scandal with a Tanzanian tribunal ruling the company had dodged more than $40 million in corporate taxes from 2010 to 2013.
The tribunal, headed by a High Court judge, ordered Acacia Mining to pay $41.25-million in taxes to the Tanzanian government. The company said at the time it was victim of a flawed taxing system, IPP Media reported. It said that it had invested about $3 billion in Tanzania and that the government had agreed that such amount could be deducted from its corporate taxes.
