WE ARE DRIVING DOWN COSTS, EXPANDING MARGINS.

The company, which gives projections in U.S. dollars, also estimates cost of sales for gold will come in at the low end of its guidance range between US$800 to US$850 per ounce for 2016. That helped curb the impact of the reduced production on its bottom line.

Full-year all-in sustaining costs are expected to be at the low end of its guidance between US$740 and US$755 per ounce for gold. It aims to have that measure — the industry standard — down to US$700 per ounce by 2019.

Meanwhile, its copper production last year is estimated at 415 million pounds, in line with its guidance of between 380 and 430 million pounds. Full-year cost of copper sales is expected to be between US$1.35 and US$1.55 per pound with all-in sustaining costs of between US$2 and US$2.20 per pound.

Barrick president Kelvin Dushnisky said the company was able to keep costs low through improvements in productivity and efficiency.

“We are driving down costs, expanding margins, and maximizing free cash flow across the portfolio. This will remain a focus in 2017 as we target step changes in performance.”

Barrick, which launched an aggressive turnaround plan in 2015, will report its fourth-quarter and full-year 2016 earnings on Feb. 15. Analysts are expecting to see better full-year results than 2015 and a portion of its debt paid down.

Shares in Barrick closed down one per cent at $23.60 Wednesday on the Toronto Stock Exchange.