(Reuters) -Miner Barrick Gold Corp, doubled its quarterly dividend on Wednesday after reporting first-quarter profit above Wall Street expectations, on the back of higher gold and copper prices.
Gold, traditionally seen as a safe haven to invest in during times of financial uncertainty, rose above $2,000 an ounce in early March after Russia invaded Ukraine. It has since retreated to around $1,850 an ounce.
The miner’s realized gold price in the quarter rose 5.6% to $1,876 per ounce from a year earlier, while copper saw a near 14% increase to $4.68 per pound.
However, the company’s gold production in the quarter fell 10.1% to 990,000 ounces from a year earlier, hurt by lower output at its Nevada gold mines.
The omicron coronavirus variant has caused labor shortages and other production disruptions, forcing rivals like Newmont Corp to take a hit of as much as 150,000 ounces in the first quarter.
The company said rising inflation, exacerbated by the conflict between Russia and Ukraine and western sanctions, has had a direct impact on Barrick’s business, not only in terms of fuel and gas prices but also the cost and availability of input commodities.
Barrick said its all in sustaining costs, an industry metric that reflects total costs associated with production, was up at $1,164 per ounce of gold from $1,018 per ounce a year earlier.
Barrick also declared a dividend of 20 cents per share for the first quarter, nearly double from the previous quarter.
U.S.-listed shares of the company, which have gained 18% so far this year, were up 0.5% in premarket trading.
Barrick’s first-quarter adjusted earnings per share of 26 cents was above estimates of 24 cents, according to Refinitiv IBES.
(Reporting by Rithika Krishna in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)
