Barrick Gold Sees 106% Earnings Jump In Q4 2024
Barrick Gold (TSX:ABX) has reported its Q4 and full-year 2024 results, where total revenues for the quarter reached $3.65 billion, an 8% rise compared to Q3, and an increase from $3.30 billion in Q4 2023. On a full-year basis, revenues rose 13% from $11.40 billion in 2023 to $12.92 billion in 2024, reflecting stronger gold and copper markets as well as timely operational improvements.
Net earnings jumped to $996 million in the fourth quarter alone, up 106% from Q3, bringing full-year net earnings to $2.14 billion—a 69% leap over 2023. Even after adjusting out special items, adjusted net earnings stood at $2.21 billion for the year, marking a 51% improvement.
Earnings benefited from lower impairment expenses after Barrick reversed earlier asset write-downs, although costs of sales remained elevated at $1.43 billion for Q4, slightly below Q3’s $1.47 billion. On an annual basis, cost of sales reached $7.96 billion, roughly in line with the $7.93 billion tallied in 2023.
The higher revenue base pushed the company’s attributable EBITDA to $5.19 billion for 2024, a 30% jump from $3.99 billion the year before, producing a margin improvement from 42% in 2023 to 48% this year. This margin expansion underscores the favorable effect of rising gold prices, which averaged $2,397 per ounce in 2024 compared to $1,948 in 2023.
Net cash from operating activities reached $1.39 billion in Q4, an 18% quarter-on-quarter increase, driving the full-year figure to $4.49 billion. Compared to the $3.73 billion posted in 2023, this represented a 20% gain. Free cash flow more than doubled from $646 million in 2023 to $1.32 billion in 2024. Most of this expansion took place in the final quarter, when free cash flow grew by 13% compared to Q3. Cash flows from investments showed total capital expenditures rising to $3.17 billion for the year, 3% higher than in 2023, with project capital at $924 million and sustaining capital at $2.22 billion.
Barrick ended 2024 with $4.07 billion in cash and equivalents, slightly down from $4.15 billion at the close of 2023. This led the total current assets to end at $7.63 billion while current liabilities ended at $2.64 billion.
On the production side, while annual gold output decreased 4% to 3.91 million ounces from 4.05 million ounces in 2023, Q4 production rebounded to 1.08 million ounces, up from 943,000 ounces in Q3, enabling Barrick to meet full-year guidance on gold volumes. Costs for gold production rose compared to the previous year, with 2024 gold all-in sustaining costs averaging $1,484 per ounce versus $1,335 in 2023.
Barrick’s copper segment yielded 195,000 tonnes in 2024, slightly above 191,000 tonnes the prior year. The final quarter saw a significant 33% jump over Q3’s output. Average realized copper prices climbed to $4.15 per pound in 2024 from $3.85 in 2023, a factor that drove higher quarterly earnings despite cost of sales for copper rising modestly year-on-year to $2.99 per pound.
Beyond these metrics, management also highlighted a 23% boost in proven and probable gold mineral reserves to 89 million ounces (before 2024 depletion) and a 224% surge in copper reserves to 18 million tonnes. The company also announced a $0.10 per share dividend for Q4, bringing total dividends in 2024 to $696 million, plus an additional $498 million in share repurchases.
The company also launched a new $1.0 billion buyback program for 2025, although Barrick canceled its previous repurchase program ahead of schedule to launch this.
Looking forward, the company projects 2025 attributable gold production in the range of 3.15 to 3.50 million ounces, not counting output from Loulo-Gounkoto in Mali, where operations remain suspended amid government negotiations. Copper production is projected to increase to 200,000 to 230,000 tonnes, largely on the back of expansions at Lumwana.
Barrick Gold last traded at $24.42 on the TSX.
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