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GOLD MINERS ROUNDUP MAY 2018 • E&MJ; 29 www.e-mj.com put were ranked in the top five for highest price received and the top five for lowest AISC. Instead what it reveals is who was most successful of making the most of the potentially waning days of a negative-in- terest-rate environment. No. 1 Barrick (5.32M Oz) Barrick reported net earnings of $1.4 billion in 2017, up from $655 million in 2016. (The company reported a $2.8 billion loss in 2015.) The company's rev- enues approached $8.4 billion in 2017, down 2% yoy and down 7% since 2015. It nixed roughly $1.5 billion in debt. AISC rose 3% yoy in 2017 to $750/oz. Total ore mined and total ore processed fell 13% and 25% yoy, respectively. And total gold production fell for the seventh straight year. It was down 4% yoy and is down 38% from the 8.64 million oz pro- duced in 2006. Last year's decline was attributed to the impact of the company's divestment of its 50% interest in Veladero, effective June 30, 2017. That aside, "gold production decreased by 1% or 48,000 oz due to lower grade and recovery at Tur- quoise Ridge, lower grade at Pueblo Viejo and Hemlo, lower recovery at Lagunas Norte and lower throughput at Acacia as a result of reduced operations at Bulyanhu- lu," Barrick reported. These decreases were partially offset by higher production at the company's, and the world's, biggest mine. In its 2017 annual report, Barrick com- bines the numbers from Goldstrike and Cortez under the title of Barrick Nevada, which now amounts to the biggest pure- play gold mine in the world. Production there increased 7% yoy to 2.3 million oz. For reserves, Barrick reports it has 64.4 Million oz in 1.29 billion metric tons (mt) of ore grading at 1.55 grams per mt (g/mt). "That compares to 86 million and 1.33 g/mt at the end of 2016," Bar- rick reported. "The decline in oz primarily reflects the reclassification of Pascua-La- ma reserves to resources." Exploration drilling added 7.9 million oz in 2017, "more than replacing the 6.2 million oz depleted through production," the com- pany reported. Reserves for Barrick Neva- da reached 20.4 million oz by December 31, 2017, an 11% increase yoy. Gold production is expected to fall fur- ther in 2018, "primarily as a result of de- creases at Barrick Nevada, Pueblo Viejo and Veladero," Barrick reported. Median guidance for Barrick Nevada is 2.13 mil- lion oz, a decline of 8% yoy "as its Cortez Hills open pit and Cortez Hills underground moves from purely oxide ore to a mix of ox- ide, refractory, and transitional ores," Bar- rick reported. "Grade is expected to be low- er as production progresses deeper in the mine." Lower grade will also impact output at Pueblo Viejo. Donlin Gold project in Alas- ka is in permitting stage. There, "drilling re- sults for 2017 were encouraging with high- grade mineralization in multiple areas." No. 2 Newmont (5.27M Oz) Newmont posted an adjusted net income of $780 million, up 26% yoy. It also re- ported an 87% increase yoy in what it calls free cash flow. The increases were "primarily due to higher gold production and higher average realized gold prices," the company reported. AISC was up 1% yoy to $924/oz, but down more than 22% from the 2012 high of $1,192/oz. Total ore mined and processed in- creased 4% and 8% yoy, respectively. The company mined 552.4 mt, rough- ly 59% more than Barrick. Thus, it "in- creased gold production 8% from the prior year due to "a full year's production from Merian and Long Canyon, partially offset by lower grades at Twin Creeks, Yana- cocha and Tanami, further impacted by ad- verse weather conditions at Yanacocha and Tanami," Newmont reported." Production increased 7% yoy at Carlin to 972,000 oz. It fell 18% yoy at Yanacocha to 535,000 oz. It fell 2% at Boddington to 787,000 oz. In 2017, the company launched com- mercial production at the Tanami Ex- pansion project, mined first ore at Twin Creeks Underground, produced first gold at Subika Underground, approved the Quecher Main expansion project at Yana- cocha, and declared gold reserves of 68.5 million oz, "fully replacing depletion at a constant gold price," Newmont reported. "Proven and probable gold reserves in 2017 were in line with 2016, as addi- tions of 4.4 million oz, revisions of 1.9 million oz, and acquisitions of 100,000 were offset by depletion of 6.4 million oz." Reserves were reported to be 14.8 Million oz at Carlin, 12.7 million oz at Boddington, and 2.1 million oz at Yana- cocha as of December 31, 2017. Newmont's reserves were reported to be 73.7 million oz as of December 31, 2016; and 81.6 million oz as of Decem- ber 31, 2015. The company expects to produce be- tween 4.9 and 5.4 million oz in 2018. Commercial production is calendared for the second half of 2018 at both Subika Un- derground and Twin Creeks Underground. No. 3 AngloGold Ashanti (3.8M Oz) In 2017, AngloGold Ashanti raised gold income by more than $270 million to almost $4.4 billion. Adjusted headline earnings fell from $143 million to $9 million. And debt rose by almost $100 million to $2 billion. AISC rose 7% yoy Haul trucks transport rock at the Kalgoorlie Super Pit in Australia. (Photo: Newmont Mining)