TORONTO and VANCOUVER – Third quarter results are rolling in this time of year, and Canada's largest gold producers – Agnico-Eagle Mines, Barrick Gold and Goldcorp – are feeling the pinch of a stagnant price.
First the gold price. It began the year at US$1,225.00 per oz, rose to US$1,327.50 in mid-year, and began its slide in Q3, closing on Sept. 30 at $1,216.50. Meanwhile, the cost of goods, services and labour pushed upwards.
Agnico production rose substantially thanks to the company's purchase of a 50% interest in the Canadian Malartic gold mine that contributed 64,761 oz. Total production was 349,273 oz in the 2014 quarter (up 12% from the same period a year earlier) and 1.04 million oz in the first nine months of the year (+33%).
Goldcorp also increased production in the third quarter, pouring 651,700 oz, an increase of 2%. The boost came from the ramp-up of the Eleonore mine in Quebec and Cerro Negro mine in Argentina.
Barrick produced 1.65 million oz of gold during the third quarter (down 10%) and 4.7 million oz (–12%) through Sept. 30, 2014.
Checking net earnings against revenues is always interesting.
Agnico hade revenues of US$463 million for the quarter (+4%) and US$1.39 billion for the nine months (+13%). Despite the rise in third quarter revenue, the company had a net loss of US$15 million, but earnings for the nine-month period were US$104 million, a rise of 12%.
Goldcorp had higher revenues at US$859 million in the third quarter but this was down slightly (–4%) and US$2.66 billion for the first nine months (–2%). Sadly the company registered a net loss for Q3 2014 of US$44 million, but earnings of US$237 million through September.
Barrick had by far the largest revenue number is the third quarter at US$2.60 billion, but that was down 13% from the same quarter a year earlier. The nine-month number was US$7.66 billion in 2014, a 20% drop from the same period in 2013. Barrick recorded net income of US$852 million for three months and US$1.93 billion for nine months, but the numbers were down 31% and 40% from the same periods last year.
All three companies have included detailed operating information for individual operations in their Q3 reports at their websites – AgnicoEagle.com, Barrick.com and Goldcorp.com.
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