(Reuters) -Barrick Mining on Monday raised its dividend and expanded its share buyback program, after beating quarterly adjusted profit estimates as stronger gold prices helped offset a decline in production.
U.S.-listed shares of the Canadian company rose nearly 4% in premarket trading following the results.
Gold prices, which are sensitive to uncertainty, averaged at $3,574.95 per ounce in the third quarter, more than 16% higher than the preceding quarter and over 43% above the levels seen a year
earlier.
Prices of the precious metal were buoyed by safe-haven demand as uncertainty over U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff plans and geopolitical tensions stoked inflation concerns.
Barrick said its average realized gold price rose to $3,457 per ounce during the third quarter from $2,494 per ounce a year earlier.
Its quarterly production decreased to 829,000 ounces from 943,000 ounces last year.
Barrick has been locked in a long-running standoff with Mali's military-led government since it was forced to suspend operations in mid-January.
This was after the government had blocked its exports for two months, detained some of its executives and seized three tons of bullion.
The company's all-in sustaining costs for gold, an industry metric reflecting total expenses, rose to $1,538 per ounce from $1,507 per ounce during the third quarter.
Barrick declared a 25% rise in its quarterly dividend to 125 cents per share and added that the board has approved a $500 million increase to the existing share repurchase program.
The company earned 58 cents per share on an adjusted basis in the third quarter, compared with analysts' average expectation of 57 cents per share, according to data compiled by LSEG.
(Reporting by Pooja Menon in Bengaluru; Editing by Shreya Biswas)
