CompetitorsThin moat
Barrick Mining (B) — moat facet
Nobody takes a customer from anyone else in gold, so rivals compete for capital, assets and ground -- and Barrick has been passed on ounces, out-guided on cost, and re-rated downward on jurisdiction.
Gold mining is the one industry in this collection where competition does not work the way competition normally works. Nobody takes a customer from anyone else, because there are no customers to take — every producer sells the identical metal at the identical published price. A rival cannot undercut Barrick, cannot out-market it, and cannot lock up distribution.
What rivals compete for instead is capital, assets and the ground itself, and on that scoreboard Barrick has been losing. Newmont produced 5.89 million attributable ounces in 2025. Agnico Eagle produced 3.447 million and took second place from Barrick, which produced 3.26 million. On cost the gap is wider and pointed the wrong way: Barrick's all-in sustaining cost rose about 10 percent in 2025 to $1,637 an ounce and is guided to $1,760 to $1,950 for 2026, against Agnico's guidance of $1,400 to $1,5501.
The market has drawn the obvious conclusion. Agnico trades at a forward multiple around 11.5 times, roughly a fifth above the industry average, while Barrick trades at a discount — the difference being almost entirely jurisdiction rather than orebody quality. The moat's Jurisdiction and Political Risk threat argues why.
Two of the four pages here are the conventional rivals. The other two are not miners at all: recycled gold, which supplied 1,404 tonnes in 2025 with no mine and no permit, and the exchange-traded fund, which took in 801 tonnes2 and offers an investor everything Barrick offers except the operating risk.
Nobody takes a customer from anyone in gold, so rivals compete for capital, assets and ground. Barrick has been passed for second place and its 2026 cost guidance of $1,760–$1,950 an ounce sits a full band above Agnico's $1,400–$1,550. Watch whether the AISC gap narrows by 2027.
Source: Peer comparison of 2025 production and 2026 guidance ↗- ReportedNewmont produced 5.89 million attributable ounces in 2025, Agnico Eagle 3.447 million and Barrick 3.26 million; Barrick's AISC rose 10% to $1,637/oz with 2026 guided to $1,760-$1,950 against Agnico's $1,400-$1,550, and Agnico trades about 22% above the industry multiple.Gold-miner peer comparison, 2025 results and 2026 guidance — Newmont led global production with 5.89 million attributable ounces in 2025; Agnico Eagle secured the number two global position with payable gold production of 3.447 million ounces, exceeding Barrick's 3.26 million ounces by nearly 200,000; Barrick's all-in sustaining costs rose 10% year on year to $1,637 per ounce in 2025 and are guided to $1,760-$1,950 for 2026, with cash costs of $1,330-$1,470 against $1,199 in 2025, while Agnico guided 2026 AISC of $1,400-$1,550 per ounce; Agnico trades at a forward twelve-month earnings multiple of about 11.5x, roughly 21.7% above the industry average of 9.48x; AngloGold and Agnico Eagle separated themselves from the pack through superior cost control and jurisdiction management while Barrick struggled with geopolitical friction, notably the dispute with Mali's authorities over the Loulo-Gounkoto complex — FY2025 / 2026 guidance · publ. 2026 · source ↗
- ReportedRecycled gold supplied 1,404.3t in 2025 and gold ETF holdings grew 801.2t, the second strongest year on record.World Gold Council, Gold Demand Trends Q4 and Full Year 2025 — total gold demand including OTC exceeded 5,000t for the first time, worth an unprecedented US$555bn (+45%), with the LBMA gold price setting 53 new all-time highs during 2025; the annual average price was US$3,431.5/oz (+44%) and the Q4 average a record US$4,135.2/oz (+55%). Supply: mine production a record 3,671.6t (+1%), net producer hedging -73.6t, recycled gold 1,404.3t (+3%) — described as a relatively muted response to a 67% increase in the US dollar gold price — for total supply of 5,002.3t. Demand: jewellery fabrication 1,638.0t (-19%) and jewellery consumption 1,542.3t (-18%) with jewellery demand value up 18% to a record; bar and coin 1,374.1t (+16%), a 12-year high; ETFs and similar products +801.2t against -2.9t in 2024, the second strongest year on record; central banks and other institutions 863.3t against 1,092.4t, at the upper end of the expected range, historically elevated and geographically widespread but slowed from their recent pace — FY2025 · publ. 2026-01-29 · source ↗
- Barrick Mining — Annual Report (barrick.com/investors)
- Gold-miner peer comparison — 2025 production and 2026 guidance
- World Gold Council — Gold Demand Trends, Full Year 2025