The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.69%, or 178.37 points, to finish the May 13 to 17 trading week at 25,764.00, and the S&P 500 Index fell 0.76%, or 21.87 points, to 2,859.53. Spot gold dropped US$8.70 per oz. or 0.68% to US$1,277.10 per ounce.
Strong quarterly results sent Kinross Gold‘s shares up 3.6% to US$3.16. Kinross reported net earnings in the three months ended March 31 of US$64.7 million, or 5¢ per share, and adjusted net earnings of US$83.3 million, or 7¢ per share. The company produced 606,031 oz. gold in the quarter, with its Paracatu and Tasiast mines both delivering record quarterly production and their lowest costs since 2010 and 2011, respectively. All-in sustaining costs (AISCs) for the quarter were US$925 per gold-equivalent oz. sold, up from US$846 per oz. in the first quarter of 2018. Management said it is on track to reach its 2019 production guidance of 2.5 million gold-equivalent oz., and expects AISCs for the year of US$995 per gold-equivalent ounce.
Iamgold shares were up 8.8% to US$2.59 on no corporate news, prompting it to issue a news release on May 17 stating it was not aware of any material change that would account for recent trading activity in the stock.
Peabody Energy fell US$2.98 to US$26.62. The company reported that the first quarter was marked by unusual near-term challenges to the coal logistics chain in many parts of the world, with traditional coal flows rerouted by flooding in the heartland of the U.S.; port restrictions in China; wet weather and train derailments in Australia; and a cyclone in Mozambique. This resulted in first quarter revenues of US$1.25 billion on 40.5 million tons of coal sales, compared with US$1.46 billion in revenues and 48.3 million tons of coal sales in the same quarter last year. Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) declined US$110 million year-on-year to US$253.9 million. The company closed the quarter with US$839.6 million in cash and equivalents, down from the US$1.44 billion it held at the end of the first quarter in 2018.
Shares of Consol Energy dropped US$2.65 to US$28.97. The company has started development of its Itmann mine, a new low-volume metallurgical coal mining operation in Wyoming County, West Virginia. Consol says once in production in 2021 and at a full run rate, the mine should produce more than 600,000 tons per year of high-quality, low-volume coking coal. Construction will be funded internally with organic free cash flow and the mine is expected to run for more than 25 years. Consol’s flagship operation, its Pennsylvania mining complex, which consists of three underground mines that have the capacity to produce a total of about 28.5 million tons of coal a year.