(Reuters) -Newmont Corp on Friday posted a fall in first-quarter profit, as the world’s biggest gold miner was hurt by lower gold sales volumes.
Miners have been dealing with labor disruptions and movement restrictions since the emergence of the Omicron coronavirus variant.
Newmont in February warned that Omicron-related issues could impact its gold production by as much as 150,000 ounces in the first quarter.
The Denver, Colorado-based company said its attributable gold production was 1.34 million ounces in the quarter, a year-over-year decrease of 8%.
Its all-in sustaining costs for gold, an industry metric that reflects total expenses associated with production, grew to $1,156 per ounce from $1,039 a year ago.
The company’s net income attributable to stockholders from continuing operations fell to $432 million, or 54 cents per share, in the quarter ended March 31, from $538 million, or 67 cents per share, a year earlier.
Newmont also incurred $17 million in COVID-specific expenses.
(Reporting by Ruhi Soni in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)