Mining giant Barrick Gold's gold production came in lower than estimates in the third quarter, as did mid-tier Eldorado Gold's, but junior producer Karora Resources bucked that trend, achieving record quarterly output in the three months.
Broker Stifel GMP has published notes on the three producers, and highlighted that Karora had churned out 38,437 ounces in the quarter from its Beta Hunt and Higginsville mines in the Kalgoorlie belt of Western Australia, trouncing the record set in the last quarter of 30,652 ounces by an impressive 25%.
"The quarterly figure was boosted by the discovery of 2,436 ounces of coarse gold. Without the coarse gold, production would have been 36,000 ounces, a 17.5% increase over Q2 production," analysts said.
They also noted that the "strong" quarter put Karora on track to achieve its high end of annual production guidance of between 120,000 and 145,000 ounces.
READ: Stifel GMP maintains Buy rating on Barrick Gold despite muted response to 2Q production figures
"KRR currently trades at a spot P/NAV of 0.44x, broadly in-line with its junior producer peer group at 0.41x. We have a target P/NAV of 1.0x on the stock owing in part to the company's enviable location in mining-friendly Western Australia and we rate it as a Buy with a price target of C$6.60/share."
Barrick on the other hand, which has a market cap of around US$25 billion and operations in 13 countries, saw preliminary Q3 gold production of 988,000 oz, which was lighter than Stifel's estimate of around 1.06 million ounces (Moz) and consensus of 1.07Moz.
Its Nevada Gold Mines operation drove the majority of negative variance to the broker's estimates. The major's gold production guidance was maintained, but as expected production will come in at the lower end of range, said analysts.
Stifel GMP rates Barrick a 'Buy' and targets C$35.25 a share (current price: C$19.85).
Eldorado Gold, focused on Turkey, Greece and Canada, operates four main mines that produce over 400,000 ounces of gold per year. Its preliminary production results for the third quarter were total gold output of 118,800 ounces, which was below Stifel's forecast of 133,300 ounces.
"ELD has produced approximately 325,000 ounces of gold, which represents approximately 69% of guidance at midpoint. ELD has maintained production guidance of 460-490,000 ounces, but is aiming to meet the bottom half after a softer start to the year," highlighted the analysts.
Annual guidance remains achievable at the lower end of the full-year production guidance range, and a continued anticipated stronger second half, said the broker, which has a 'Buy' stance on the shares and target price of C$18 (current price: C$8.19).
Contact the author at giles@proactiveinvestors.com