The majority of selected gold miners saw all-in sustaining costs climb in the first quarter as attributable production fell, according to an S&P Global Commodity Insights analysis of 17 large gold producers.

Costs rose for 11 of the analyzed gold miners in the first quarter, and the weighted-average mean increased 4.8% to $1,181 per ounce of gold across the group. The group comprised producers with more than 500,000 ounces of attributable gold production in 2021.

Among the miners on the list, Equinox Gold Corp. booked the highest increase at 24.7%, with all-in sustaining costs, or AISC, hitting $1,578/oz. B2Gold Corp. followed with a 20.5% jump to $1,036/oz, and Barrick Gold Corp. increased 19.9% to $1,164/oz.

Twelve of the 17 miners posted quarterly drops in attributable production during the period. Top producer Newmont Corp. booked a 16.9% drop in output to 1.3 million ounces, and Barrick incurred a 17.7% fall to 990,000 ounces. Equinox reported the largest fall at 44.2% to 117,000 ounces.

Third-largest producer Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. reported the highest quarterly increase at 31.6% to 661,000 ounces. Iamgold Corp. production was up 13.7% to 174,000 ounces, and Newcrest Mining Ltd. gained 10.0% to 480,000 ounces.

South Africa's Harmony Gold Mining Co. Ltd. booked the highest AISC among the reviewed gold producers at $1,810/oz. Equinox came in at second with $1,578/oz, and Pan American Silver Corp. posted costs of $1,502/oz. Iamgold and AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. rounded out the top five at $1,490/oz and $1,405/oz, respectively.

Australia's Evolution Mining Ltd. had the lowest cost among the miners included in the analysis at $717/oz, followed by Endeavour Mining PLC at $848/oz, Newcrest at $1,019/oz, B2Gold at $1,036/oz and Agnico Eagle at $1,079/oz.

Six mining companies booked drops in AISC, with Evolution logging the largest drop during the period at 26.9%, followed by Newcrest at 9.6% and Endeavour at 7.3%.

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