The world’s biggest gold miner Newmont beat Wall Street estimates for first-quarter profit on Wednesday as a rally in bullion prices helped offset lower production, sending its shares up 2% after hours.
The average price of gold has been rising over the past few quarters and hit record highs in the January to March period, as concerns over US President Donald Trump‘s erratic tariff plans ignited fears of a global trade war, driving a rush towards the safe-haven allure of the precious metal.
Newmont’s quarterly average realized price for gold jumped about 41% to $2 944 per ounce, compared with a year ago, while gold production fell 8.3% to 1.54 million ounces, hurt by reduced contributions from its non-core operations.
The company bought Australia-based Newcrest for $17.14-billion in 2023and said in February last year it would divestsome non-core assets and trim its workforce to cut debt, which was at $3.22 billion as of March 31.
Late last year, Newmont said it would sell its Eleonore mine in Canada to UK-based miner Dhilmar for $795-million and sell its Musselwhite Gold Mine in Ontario to Orla Mining in a deal valued at $850-million.
In January, gold miner Discovery Silver said it would acquire Newmont’s stake in Porcupine Operations in Ontario, Canada, for $425-million.
Newmont’s quarterly all-in-sustaining costs for gold, an industry metric reflecting total expenses, rose 14.7% to $1 651 per ounce in the January-March quarter due to lower gold production.
On an adjusted basis, the company earned $1.25 per share for the quarter ended March 31, compared with analysts’ average estimate of 90 cents per share, according to data compiled by LSEG.