Hochschild Mining revealed a near 40 per cent rise in the average price of the gold it produces this morning, burnishing the appeal of a sector with a long history in the City.
The news propelled shares in the £3bn, 100-year-old firm onto the leaderboard of the FTSE 250. Hochschild’s stock strode over 2% higher to 672p, the fourth-biggest rise of the day.
In a trading update for the first quarter, it reported an “average realisable price” for gold of $4,471/ounce for gold. At its annual results in March, the equivalent figure was $3,222/ounce. In the first quarter of last year, it was $2,708/ounce, taking the year-on-year rise to almost 40 per cent.
These prices are reported before the deduction of commercial discounts.
Hochschild has major precious metals sites in South America, including the Mara Rosa in Brazil and Argentina’s San Jose mine, but calls London home for its shares. The City is the world’s foremost centre of investment in the industry and is home to the London Metals Exchange, one of the most significant venues for trade in the commodities the sector produces.
Haven demand for gold and silver
Haven demand for precious metals amid turmoil on global markets has sent the spot price of gold as high as $5,279.56 in February. It has since fallen back to $4,766.79 into the start of London trade this morning.
Hochschild’s average silver price was even more eye catching at $89.8/ounce, up from $33.2/ounce in the first quarter of last year.
Eduardo Landin, chief executive, called it a “solid start”, adding: “Overall, we have delivered another quarter of strong cash generation and we are on track to meet our full-year production and cost guidance.”
City analysts have been bullish on the outlook for gold this year, predicting that trade turmoil and geopolitical conflict would burnish its appeal to investors.
JP Morgan predicted at the end of last year that for this year, gold prices would “average $5,055/ounce by the final quarter of 2026, rising toward $5,400/oz by the end of 2027.”
Major multinational miners of both precious and base metals have a long history on London’s stock market. It is home to the shares of a run-down of the industry’s biggest names, from Rio Tinto, Glencore and BHP on the FTSE 100, to AIM-listed firms such as Caledonia Mining, which is active in Zimbabwe.
Peak gold?
There were wider gains in the sector. Pan African Resources was up 1.2 per cent to 156.4p on the FTSE 250. Large-cap miners stood out at the top of the FTSE 100. Mexican silver miner Fresnillo was the single biggest gainer, up 2% to 3,662p. Rio Tinto took second place, adding 1.7% to 7,417p.
Higher metals prices helped the sector glisten. Alongside gold’s 40 per cent advance over the last year, Silver has more than doubled to $78.49/ounce. Copper’s advance has matched gold’s at around 40%.
When JP Morgan looked ahead to 2026, its head of base and precious metals strategy, Gregory Shearer, pointed to solid sources of regular demand alongside speculative interest from investors, via exchange traded funds (ETFs) and the futures market:
“We continue to lean on the relationship between tonnes of quarterly investor and central bank demand and prices to derive our gold price forecast.
“We see around 585 tonnes of quarterly investor and central bank demand on average, comprising around 190 tonnes a quarter from central banks, 330 tonnes a quarter in bar and coin demand and 275 tonnes of annual demand from ETFs and futures.”
Hochschild’s insight this morning into the latest leg higher taken by prices it can charge will back such bullish cases over the medium term.
But there are also warnings that gold is looking tired around the $4,800/ounce mark, not least amid wider market hopes that the conflict in the Middle East may have peaked, and with it haven demand for gold and silver.
Gold mounts ‘impressive recovery’
And a stronger dollar can hold back the gold price, flattering the revenue generated by mining companies.
David Morrison, senior market analyst at Trade Nation said: “Gold has put in an impressive recovery since dropping to $4,100 a month ago. But it now shows signs of having run out of upside momentum.
“Yet again, gold has fallen under the spell of the US dollar, which means that any rally in the greenback is weighing on it, as things stand. Investors remain focused on whether negotiations between the US and Iran in Pakistan will proceed.”
Gold traded at $4,781/ounce on Wednesday, up 1.3 per cent on the session. Silver was up 2.4% on the session to $78.30/ounce. It hit a record peak above $116 in January.
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