Gold production to decrease 1.7% in 2020
Despite high prices the corona crisis will decrease gold output drastically.

The cessation of mining activities due to the Covid-19 outbreak in the second quarter of this year will result in a 1.7% decline in global gold production in 2020, according to GlobalData. According to the data and analytics firm, all of the world's top gold producers, including Newmont (TSX: NGT; NYSE: NEM), Barrick Gold (TSX: ABX; NYSE: GOLD), AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE: AU), and Newcrest Mining ( ASX: NCM), due to restrictions on mining operations and lockdowns in several key markets, such as South Africa, will experience a decline in production. "However, widespread uncertainty over fears of a possible global economic downturn drove the price of gold to an all-time high in August 2020 and, despite falling production, the price of gold is still around $ 2,000 an ounce, supporting earnings growth for a number of gold miners "said Vinneth Bajaj, a senior mining analyst at GlobalData, in a press release. The coronavirus pandemic caused the two largest gold mines, Newmont and Barrick Gold, to cut their production guidelines from a collective 11.6 million ounces to about 11 million ounces, according to GlobalData. These companies' production more than halved to 1.4 million ounces in the second quarter, compared to 2.9 million ounces in the second quarter of 2019, according to GlobalData. The decline in production followed temporary closures at the Barrick's Veladero and Porgera mines, as well as the Cerro Negro, Yanacocha, Eleonore, Penasquito and Musselwhite mines in Newmont for most of April and May this year due to the restrictions imposed by the outbreak, GlobalData says . While AngloGold Ashanti and Kinross Gold (TSX: K; NYSE: KGC) suspended their production forecasts for the year, Polyus Gold (LSE: PLZL), Russia's largest gold producer, stuck to its forecasts. Covid-19 restrictions imposed on AngloGold Ashanti's South African operations resulted in a 63,000 ounce drop in production in the first half of 2020 compared to the same period last year, according to GlobalData, during the overall decline in global production of the Company totaled 85,000 ounces in the first half of 2020. "Other factors that impacted the top companies' production in 2020 were lower ore grades and asset sales," says Bajaj. "In the case of Newcrest, production was lower due to the sale of the Gosowong mine to Indotan Halmahera in March, while Newmont sold its Red Lake project in April and the Kalgoorlie projects in early 2020," said Bajaj.





