Barrick Gold Corporation’s GOLD Kibali mine gave a strong performance in the final quarter of 2024. This performance resulted in the highest annual throughput since its commissioning. This was culminated through the mine’s continued focus on operational excellence and its capacity to deliver strong results.

As stated by Barrick’s chief operating officer for Africa and the Middle East, 2024 was a challenging year which called for some leadership changes. Despite of the challenges, Kibali mine has proved its consistency and efficiency as a low-cost producer, building foundation for strong results in 2025 and beyond. Along with this, management has also been focusing on exploration in the potential reserves within trucking distance of the plant, aimed at bolstering the mine’s reserve pipeline.

Most of Kibali’s electricity is supplied by three hydropower stations. GOLD is progressing toward the construction of a 16MW solar plant at Kibali to help reduce the mine’s carbon dioxide emissions from 45kt to 24kt per year and fuel consumption by 53% while increasing the renewable component of its energy mix from 81% to 85%. 

With the capability to back up the hydropower supply during the region’s dry season, it will also allow Kibali to operate with 100% renewable power for six months of the year. Kibali being the biggest gold mine in Africa, GOLD is setting an example for transitioning to renewable energy in the country’s mining.

With regards to sustainability, the mine has also made improvements by reducing its fresh water extraction from the Kibali river with the help of a modified water reticulation system.

As a part of Barrick’s efforts to boost local content, it is working toward creating jobs, improving livelihoods and supporting local businesses. Kibali alone has contributed more than $5.7 billion to the Congolese economy to date. The company’s heavy investments in community development projects have proved instrumental in elevating local businesses.

GOLD stock has gained 1.7% in the past year compared with the 31.5% rise of the industry.

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GOLD’s Zacks Rank and Key Picks

GOLD currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Some better-ranked stocks in the Basic Materials space are Ingevity Corporation NGVT, Carpenter Technology Corporation CRS and Methanex Corp. MEOH. While NGVT sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), CRS and MEOH carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) each at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Ingevity’s current-year earnings is pegged at $2.75 per share. NGVT beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in three of the trailing four quarters and missed once, with the average earnings surprise being 95.4%. Its shares have gained 1.3% in the past year.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Carpenter Technology’s current fiscal-year earnings is pegged at $6.77 per share. CRS beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the trailing four quarters, with the average earnings surprise being 14.1%. Its shares have soared 225.7% in the past year.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Methanex’s current-year earnings is pegged at $3.49 per share. MEOH surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the trailing four quarters, with an average earnings surprise of 100.9%. The stock has gained 7.8% in the past year.

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