TORONTO – Barrick Gold, the world’s largest gold producer, cut jobs and closed offices in the second quarter as part of its strategy to decentraliSe operations.

“We completed an extensive review of all positions sitting above operations, reallocating roles where appropriate, eliminating those no longer required and closing a number of smaller offices,” the Toronto-based miner said Wednesday in a statement. This will result in about $30-million of severance expenses, it said.

As expected, production fell and costs rose in the quarter. A rockfall at the Kalgoorlie Super Pit gold mine it owns with Newmont Mining contributed to the drop in production and will likely weigh on output for the rest of the year, Barrick said. Even so, the company left full-year production guidance unchanged at 4.5-million to 5-million ounces, as it expects strong performances at its Nevada and Dominican Republic operations to compensate.

Local media reported two rockfalls in May forced the Kalgoorlie joint venture to temporarily suspend operations and cut jobs. Newmont, which reports earnings Thursday morning, operates the 50-50 asset.

GOLD DISCOVERY
Barrick’s second-quarter production was also affected by a significant earthquake at its Porgera joint venture in Papua New Guinea, the company said, but full processing capacity has been restored earlier than expected.

After steep gains in 2016 on the back of aggressive measures to rein in debt, the stock lost ground in 2017 amid worries about its pipeline for future growth. In Wednesday’s statement, Barrick flagged a new high-grade gold discovery at Fourmile, near its Goldrush project in Nevada, saying it “demonstrates the significant untapped geological potential of Barrick’s properties in Nevada.”

Barrick’s growth strategy is increasingly focused on its substantial Nevada assets as well as its Pueblo Viejo mine in the Dominican Republic. Prefeasibility studies supporting a plant expansion at the latter are advancing, the company said.

DEBT REDUCED
Earlier this week Barrick said its president, Kelvin Dushnisky, will be leaving at the end of August to take over as chief executive officer of Johannesburg-based AngloGold Ashanti. A 16-year veteran at the Canadian miner, Dushnisky led Barrick’s debt-reduction efforts in recent years. In April, Barrick said it was ready to consider reinvesting proceeds from any asset sales into projects or returning cash to shareholders. Total debt was reduced from $6.4-billion to $5.8-billion by the end of the quarter, it said.

The earnings report was released after the close of regular trading in New York, where Barrick fell 2.4% to $11.57 at 6:33 p.m.

“For any of the robots out there that are trading these things, it’s the earnings miss,” Michael Siperco, an analyst at Macquarie Capital Markets, said by phone. “In this kind of market that’s been left for dead, those guys are the incremental drivers.”

Second-quarter profit excluding one-time items was 7c a share, missing the 12-cent average of 17 analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Revenue of $1.71-billion also trailed expectations for $1.81-billion. The company posted a net loss on the quarter.

The shares declined 18% this year through Wednesday’s close.