Among the top 25 global mining companies, many precious metals-focused miners lost market value in September while diversified, base metals and bulk commodities companies generally fared better.
![]() |
With the mixed performance across companies, the top miners were together worth US$691.24 billion as of September-end, up slightly from US$687.76 billion as of the end of August. The value was 13.1% below the US$768.89 billion value a year ago.
Among the top 10 companies, gold producers Barrick Gold Corp. and Newmont Goldcorp Corp. lost 9.4% and 4.9%, respectively, in their market values from the prior month. As of the end of September, Newmont Goldcorp held steady in seventh place with a market cap of US$31.08 billion. Barrick Gold stood as the eighth-largest miner, down from sixth in August, with a market cap of US$30.81 billion.
Both companies are coming off of sizable deals earlier in 2019. In July, they finalized a joint venture of their Nevada gold mines months after Barrick bought Randgold Resources Ltd. Newmont Mining has also targeted US$1 billion to US$1.5 billion in asset sales over the next two years to streamline its portfolio following its purchase of Goldcorp Inc.
Precious metals companies also faced declining commodity prices in September. Between Aug. 30 and Sept. 30, gold prices fell 3.7% to US$1,473.85 per ounce after surpassing US$1,500/oz in August. Silver fell 6.1% in the month to US$17.26/oz, based on S&P Global Market Intelligence data of London Bullion Market Association prices. Average consensus target prices collected by Market Intelligence show that gold prices could average US$1,442.69/oz while silver could average US$16.66/oz in the fourth quarter.
Precious metals companies that lost over 10% of their market caps in September included Canadian gold miner Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd., which fell 14.3% to US$12.73 billion. Chinese miner Shandong Gold Mining Co. Ltd.'s market cap fell 13.6% to US$13.61 billion. Canadian silver producer Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. lost 10.8% to US$11.72 billion.
A few precious metals miners bucked the trend, with Russia's largest gold producer PJSC Polyus' market value gaining 2.1% to US$15.61 billion.
Diversified, base metals and bulk commodity companies generally saw market value increases in the month. The top three miners — BHP Group, Rio Tinto and Vale SA — saw their market values grow between 0.6% and 4.4% from the prior month.
Despite weaker copper pricing in the third quarter, Southern Copper Corp. had some of the largest gains in market value among the group. Its market value rose 8% in the month to US$26.38 billion. Anglo American PLC and Australian iron ore producer Fortescue Metals Group Ltd. had a 7.9% and 10.6% rise, respectively, to US$31.76 billion and US$18.34 billion.

