Barrick Boosts Dividend by 40% After Metals Prices Lift 4Q Earnings

By Robb M. Stewart

Barrick Mining is again ramping up shareholder payouts after notching a sharp jump in quarterly earnings as metals prices soared.

The Canadian miner, one of the world's largest producers of gold, said that on the back of financial strength it will boost its quarterly base dividend a further 40%. That comes as management push toward an initial public offering of Barrick's prized gold assets in North America, pooling them in a new majority-controlled company that would be separate from the copper and gold operations in the rest of the world.

The Toronto-based company recorded fourth-quarter net earnings of $2.41 billion, or $1.43 cents a share, against $996 million, or 57 cents, a year earlier.

On an adjusted basis that strips out items including certain one-time costs and the impact of foreign-exchange movements, earnings more than doubled to $1.04 a share, beating the 90-cent forecast of analysts polled by FactSet.

Revenue for the quarter jumped 64% to $6 billion, topping the $5.23 billion expected by analysts.

Barrick's production of gold rose to 871,000 troy ounces in the latest quarter, from 829,000 ounces in the prior three months. That took output for the year to almost 3.26 million ounces, a drop of 17% from 2024 after the company's operation in Mali was halted amid a dispute with the government. The price the company realized for gold jumped 21% sequentially during the fourth quarter and was up 46% for the year, as the metal hit a string of all-time highs last year thanks to central-bank buying and investor demand for safe-haven assets.

Production of copper, in demand for electric vehicles and wind- and solar-energy generation, increased to 62,000 metric tons from 55,000 tons in the prior quarter. For the year, output was up 13% at 220,000 tons. Copper prices realized by Barrick sequentially climbed 23% for the latest quarter and were up 14% for 2025.

Full-year production was in line with the company's earlier guidance, which aimed for attributable gold to range between 3.15 million and 3.5 million ounces and copper production of 200,000 to 230,000 tons.

For the new year, the company said it is targeting gold production of between 2.9 million and 3.25 million ounces, a decline after the recent sale of two mines. Copper output is expected to be between 190,000 and 220,000 tons.

Barrick, which in November raised its base dividend 25%, said its board approved a quarterly dividend of 42 cents a share. That is more than double the 17.5 cents paid out the quarter before, which included a performance dividend.

From the fourth quarter, the company said its policy will be to target a total payout of 50% of attributable free cash flow on an annualized basis. That will comprise a fixed base quarterly payout of 17.5 cents a share, and a performance top-up at the end of each year based on cash flow during the year.

Barrick suspended its Mali operations at the start of last year after the government seized stocks of gold and continued to block shipments from the Loulo-Gounkoto mining complex, then in June the government placed the Malian operations under temporary provisional administration.

In late November, the company struck a deal to settle a bitter dispute with Mali's military government, with all charges against the miner and its workers dropped and detained employees released. In exchange, the company agreed to drop arbitration claims that were pending at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes.

In an effort to tighten its portfolio around large, longer-life operations, the company continued to pare its assets in the final quarter of last year, including the finalizing of a $1.09 billion exit from its last operating Canadian gold mine and the sale of its gold mine in Ivory Coast for $305 million.

Write to Robb M. Stewart at robb.stewart@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 05, 2026 07:42 ET (12:42 GMT)