“No one’s doing anything to kill inflation,” he said Wednesday in an interview at Bloomberg’s Toronto office. “It’s definitely not over.”
Earnings of the world’s second-largest gold miner were affected by higher inflation and lower production in 2022, as well as “challenges” at its Turquoise Ridge mine in Nevada, according to Bristow. Fourth-quarter results also surprised analysts with negative free cash flow and total cash costs that came in worse than expected, causing Barrick’s shares to drop as much as 4.5% in Toronto.
“We missed the guidance on cost, but we guided that we were going to be higher because the costs came at us quickly,” he said.
Still, the CEO sees some bright spots on the cost front, including an easing of fuel expenses due to a drop in natural gas prices. Labor is still high, though Bristow said Barrick is in “good shape” on that front in part because it uses US dollars for much…
