[Canada Mining] The Top 40 can begin to breathe – by Marilyn Scales (Canadian Mining Journal – August 15, 2017)

http://www.canadianminingjournal.com/

Although the economic outlook for Canadian miners brightened somewhat over the last year, this is still a difficult time to be profitable. A look at the current Top 40 ranking by gross revenue (all tables follow text) indicates that the biggest companies remain big, and there was little change from a year earlier.

Agrium again heads the list with gross revenue of $18.1 billion. The fertilizer producer rose to the top of the 2010 list – to the surprise of CMJ editors – and has pretty much stayed there. We shouldn’t be surprised though. A look through the previous 10 years shows Agrium climbing steadily through the ranks and always in the top 10.

With the merger of Agrium and Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan under the Nutrien name, Canada’s potash and fertilizer behemoth can be expected to top next year’s list, too. This year, PotashCorp had revenue of a $5.9 billion and ranked No. 5 in the Top 40 for the third year in a row.

The world’s largest gold producer, Barrick Gold, took the No. 2 slot with revenue of $11.3 billion. The company recovered 5.5 million oz. of gold, although the total has declined steadily from 7.2 million oz. in 2013. This is also the first time Barrick has recorded net earnings – $1.1 billion – in several years.

Teck Resources and Suncor Energy swapped places this year to round out the top five. Teck enjoyed revenue of $9.3 billion, sitting at No. 3. Suncor grossed revenue from its oil sands operations of $7.2 billion, making it No. 4.

The remainder of the top 10 contains only one new company – Canadian Natural Resources – that is now producing steadily from its Horizon oil sands project. Horizon is undergoing an expansion to 250,000 bbl/day of synthetic crude oil, so readers can expect to find CNRL near the top of the rankings next year. (Unless the oil price plummets.)

For the rest of this article: http://www.canadianminingjournal.com/features/top-40-can-begin-breathe/