Kinross Gold third quarter earnings beat market expectations, cuts capex

(Reuters) - Kinross Gold Corp (Toronto:K.TO - News) reported better-than-expected third-quarter earnings on the back of a stronger gold price and slightly higher production.

The Toronto-based miner said it was "tracking" toward the lower half of its 2016 production forecast of 2.7 million to 2.9 million gold equivalent ounces.

At the same time, its 2016 all-in sustaining costs - the gold industry's cost benchmark - were headed toward the upper half of its forecast range of $890 to $990 per ounce, it said.

Kinross, which is the world's fifth-biggest gold miner, said its net earnings were $2.5 million, or zero a share, in the three months through September. That compared with a net loss of $52.7 million, or 5 cents a share, in the same period a year ago.

Adjusted earnings of $128.7 million, or 10 cents a share, were ahead of analysts' expectations of 4 cents a share, according to estimates from Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Kinross, which has 10 mines in North and South America, Africa and Russia, produced 684,129 equivalent ounces of gold during the quarter, up from 680,679 ounces in the same period last year. It received an average price of $1,336 an ounce for its gold, up from $1,122 an ounce a year ago.

Its all-in sustaining costs rose to $1,001 an ounce from $941 in the year-ago quarter, partly due to a temporary work halt at its Tasiast mine in Mauritania.

Kinross revised its capital expenditure forecast down to a range of $650 million to $675 million from $755 million mainly due to lower-than-expected spending on Tasiast's expansion due to delays caused by the work stoppage.

(Reporting by Nicole Mordant in Vancouver; editing by G Crosse)