Barrick copper costs top guidance range as outlook holds

Barrick Mining's (TSX: ABX; NYSE: B) copper all-in sustaining costs rose to $4.52 a pound in the third quarter, above the company's 2026 guidance range of $3.45 to $3.75 a pound, which it left unchanged in results released on Monday.

The figure compares with $3.95 a pound in the second quarter and $3.14 a year earlier, a 44% increase. C1 cash costs were $2.76 a pound against guidance of $2.20 to $2.45, and cost of sales was $3.65 a pound against guidance of $3.05 to $3.35. All three measures were also above their full-year ranges for the first nine months: all-in sustaining costs averaged $4.05 a pound, C1 cash costs $2.60 and cost of sales $3.48.

Barrick's attributable copper all-in sustaining costs in the quarters reported in its third-quarter release, against its unchanged 2026 guidance of $3.45 to $3.75 a pound, according to the company.

Barrick attributed the year-on-year increase mainly to higher diesel prices and local currency appreciation, particularly in labour costs. Its guidance assumes oil at $70 a barrel for West Texas Intermediate, and the company estimates that each $10-a-barrel change moves diesel-related costs at its copper operations by about $0.04 a pound.

The copper guidance also assumes a price of $5.50 a pound. Barrick realized $6.54 a pound in the quarter, up from $6.15 in the second quarter and $4.39 a year earlier, against a market price of $6.40.

The release does not say how Barrick expects full-year costs to return to the guidance range.

Attributable copper production fell 11% to 50,000 tonnes from 56,000 tonnes in the second quarter, and was down 9% from 55,000 tonnes a year earlier. Output for the first nine months was 155,000 tonnes, compared with 158,000 tonnes in the same period last year. Full-year production guidance of 190,000 to 220,000 tonnes is unchanged. To land in that range, Barrick needs about 35,000 to 65,000 tonnes in the fourth quarter.

President and chief executive Mark Hill said in the release that Barrick remains on track to achieve its full-year production guidance.

Copper attributable adjusted EBITDA was $358 million, down from $377 million in the second quarter and up from $245 million a year earlier, on copper revenue of $677 million. Barrick sold 49,000 tonnes of copper in the quarter. Group attributable adjusted EBITDA was $2.47 billion. Barrick's attributable copper sales and costs include its 50% interests in Zaldívar and Jabal Sayid, which it accounts for as equity-method investments.

Barrick had already cut its 2026 attributable capital spending guidance to $3.8 billion to $4.2 billion, from $4.0 billion to $4.45 billion, mainly because of lower expected spending at the Reko Diq project, which is under review.

In Zambia, the Lumwana mill expansion, which Barrick expects to double copper production, remains on budget and on schedule for first copper at the end of the first quarter of 2028. The company expects 2026 capital spending on the project to come in at the lower end of guidance. All major long-lead equipment has been procured. Work on the tailings storage facility expansion is expected to begin in the fourth quarter, when the last mill wall lifts are also expected to be completed.