Barrick Gold (ABX.TO), the world's largest gold miner, reported a 22 percent increase in its quarterly profit on Wednesday, driven largely by a surge in bullion prices. Barrick, which this week surprised investors with its $7.7 billion plan to acquire copper miner Equinox Minerals (EQN.TO), also said it remains on track to meet its full-year gold output forecast of between 7.6 million and 8 million ounces. The Toronto-based miner said its profits benefited from lower-than-expected cash costs, primarily due to strong performances from its Cortez and Goldstrike mines in Nevada, along with its Veladero mine in Argentina. Barrick and its peers have reaped rewards from surging metal prices, which have helped reduce operating costs and allowed the companies to increase output by tapping into lower grade ore that would otherwise be uneconomical to mine.
Shares of ABX traded higher by 1.26% or $0.63/share to $50.82. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $39.67 and as high as $55.74. On average, 8794760 shares of ABX exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 2080267.
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