How do you calculate AISC from a mining company's financial statements?

Start with cost of sales or mine operating costs from the income statement. Add sustaining capital expenditure (found in the capex breakdown in MD&A or cash flow notes), corporate G&A from operating expenses, reclamation and closure charges, and near-mine exploration. Divide the total by gold ounces sold. Watch for by-product credits that reduce the numerator and check how the company splits sustaining vs growth capex.

Where do mining companies report AISC?

Most gold producers report AISC in their quarterly earnings press releases and MD&A sections. It is a non-GAAP metric, so it does not appear in the audited financial statements directly. Look for a reconciliation table that bridges from cost of sales (GAAP) to AISC (non-GAAP), usually in the MD&A or a supplementary information section.

Why do different mining companies calculate AISC differently?

AISC is a non-GAAP metric based on World Gold Council guidance, which is voluntary. Companies have discretion over how they classify sustaining vs growth capex, whether to include or exclude certain exploration costs, and how they treat by-product credits. This means AISC is not perfectly comparable across companies without adjustments.

How to Calculate AISC from Mining Financial Statements

Educational analysis for professional use. This guide is not investment advice or a recommendation to buy or sell any security, and it is not personalised.

AISC Is Not in the Audited Statements

AISC is a non-GAAP metric. You will not find a line item called “All-In Sustaining Cost” in any audited income statement or balance sheet. Instead, companies report AISC in their quarterly earnings press releases and Management Discussion & Analysis (MD&A) sections, typically alongside a reconciliation table that bridges from GAAP cost of sales to the non-GAAP AISC figure.

If you want to verify or reconstruct a company’s reported AISC, or calculate it for a producer that does not report it, you need to pull the components from several places in the financial statements and assemble them yourself.

The Formula

AISC ($/oz) = (Cash Costs + Sustaining CapEx + Corporate G&A + Reclamation + Near-Mine Exploration - By-Product Credits) / Gold Ounces Sold

Each component maps to a specific section of the annual report. Here is where to find them.

Step 1: Cash Operating Costs

Where to find it: Income statement → “Cost of sales” or “Mine operating expenses” or “Production costs”

This is the largest component. It covers mining, processing, refining, site G&A, and royalties. The exact label varies by company:

Newmont: “Costs applicable to sales”
Barrick: “Cost of sales”
Agnico Eagle: “Production costs including mining and processing costs”

Some companies break this into sub-lines (mining, milling, G&A); others report a single aggregate figure. If aggregate, the notes to the financial statements sometimes provide a per-mine breakdown.

Typical range: $600-1,100/oz depending on mine type and jurisdiction.

One thing to check here: whether royalties are included or reported separately. The WGC standard includes royalties in cash cost. Some companies strip royalties out and add them back as a separate AISC line item, which does not change the total but can confuse the build-up if you are reconstructing from scratch.

Step 2: Sustaining Capital Expenditure

Where to find it: MD&A → Capital expenditure discussion, or Cash flow statement notes → Breakdown of capital spending

This is the most manipulable component. Companies split total capex into “sustaining” (maintaining current production) and “growth/expansion” (new projects, mine extensions). The split is management’s judgement, not audited, and it directly affects reported AISC.

What counts as sustaining:

Equipment replacement (haul trucks, drills, loaders)
Mill and plant refurbishment
Tailings dam raises and maintenance
Underground development to maintain current production rates
Infrastructure repairs (roads, power, water)

What should NOT be in sustaining:

New mine construction
Processing plant expansions
Development of satellite deposits
Exploration drilling outside the current mine footprint

Typical range: $150-400/oz. Mines with ageing fleets or aggressive underground development programmes sit at the high end.

If a company’s sustaining capex per ounce runs well below peers but its total capex is similar, it may be reclassifying sustaining spend as growth. Compare sustaining capex as a percentage of total capex across a peer group. A ratio below 30% warrants a closer look at what exactly is in the “growth” bucket.

Step 3: Corporate G&A

Where to find it: Income statement → “General and administrative expenses” or “Corporate administration”

This is the head office overhead: executive compensation, legal, audit, insurance, investor relations, IT systems, board costs. It belongs to the group, not to any one pit, so it is added once and spread over total ounces sold. That is why the mine-by-mine AISC figures a company publishes usually exclude it, and why they will not add back up to the group number.

Typical range: $50-250/oz. Large diversified producers spread fixed G&A across millions of ounces, resulting in lower per-ounce allocation. Single-asset juniors producing 50,000-100,000 oz/year carry a much heavier per-ounce burden.

The share-based compensation question creates inconsistencies between companies. Some include stock option and RSU expense in G&A (and therefore in AISC); others exclude it as non-cash. The WGC guidance includes it, but not everyone follows that.

Step 4: Reclamation and Closure Provisions

Where to find it: Income statement or cash flow → “Reclamation expense” or “Accretion of rehabilitation provision”. The balance sheet carries the liability itself, under “Provision for mine closure” or “Asset retirement obligations”; the charge you want is the movement, not the balance.

Mining companies are legally required to restore mine sites after closure. They estimate the total closure cost, discount it to present value, and accrete (unwind) that discount over the mine life. The annual accretion charge is included in AISC.

Typical range: $20-60/oz. Higher for operations with large tailings facilities or in jurisdictions with strict environmental requirements.

Revisions to closure cost estimates can quietly change this number. If a company reduces its estimated closure liability by revising the rehabilitation plan, the per-ounce reclamation charge in AISC drops without any change in actual operating efficiency.

Step 5: Near-Mine Exploration

Where to find it: Income statement → “Exploration and evaluation expenses” (partially); MD&A → Exploration spending breakdown

The WGC guidance says to include exploration spending required to sustain current reserves. In practice, most companies include brownfield exploration (drilling near existing operations to extend mine life) and exclude greenfield exploration (searching for entirely new deposits).

Typical range: $20-80/oz. Exploration-stage companies with large programmes may run higher; mature producers with long reserve lives may spend very little.

Some companies exclude all exploration from AISC, which flatters the metric but means reserve depletion is not reflected in the reported cost.

Step 6: By-Product Credits

Where to find it: Revenue line in the income statement (by-product revenue); or disclosed separately in MD&A cost reconciliation

Mines that produce silver, copper, zinc, or other metals alongside gold subtract that by-product revenue from costs before dividing by gold ounces. This reduces reported AISC.

Example: A gold-copper mine produces 200,000 oz gold and 50 million lbs copper. At $6/lb copper, by-product revenue is $300 million. Spread across 200,000 oz gold, that is a $1,500/oz credit, turning a $2,200/oz gross AISC into a $700/oz net AISC.

The problem is obvious: if copper drops to $3/lb, the credit falls to $750/oz and AISC jumps to $1,450/oz. The mine has not become less efficient; the by-product price changed.

How to handle it: When comparing polymetallic producers to pure gold miners, note the by-product credit separately. If you are building a model, run a sensitivity on by-product prices. The size of that swing follows the credit: a given percentage fall in the by-product price adds the same percentage of the credit back onto AISC. The mine above, carrying a $1,500/oz credit, takes $450/oz on a 30% copper fall. A mine earning a $200/oz credit takes $60.

Step 7: Divide by Gold Ounces Sold

Where to find it: MD&A → Production and sales summary

Use ounces sold, not ounces produced. The two can differ in any given quarter because of inventory changes (gold in stockpile, in transit, or awaiting refining). Over a full year, the difference is usually small, but in a single quarter it can be meaningful.

Worked Example

Pulling from a hypothetical mid-tier gold producer’s annual report:

Line Item	Source	Amount
Cost of sales	Income statement	$320M
Royalties (if separate)	Income statement	$28M
Sustaining capital	MD&A capex breakdown	$85M
Corporate G&A	Income statement	$32M
Reclamation accretion	Notes to FS	$8M
Near-mine exploration	MD&A exploration breakdown	$12M
Less: by-product credits	MD&A or revenue note	($15M)
Total AISC costs		$470M
Gold ounces sold	MD&A production summary	320,000 oz
AISC per ounce		$1,469/oz

That puts this producer in the second quartile: competitive but not best-in-class.

Common Pitfalls When Calculating AISC

Mixing GAAP and non-GAAP figures. Companies reconcile from GAAP cost of sales to non-GAAP AISC. Make sure you are not double-counting items that are already embedded in cost of sales (like royalties) when adding them as separate AISC components.

Corporate AISC can mask wide gaps between pits. A company reporting $1,300/oz at group level might have one mine at $900/oz and another at $1,800/oz; check per-mine figures in the MD&A before you rank the stock.

Currency matters when you compare across jurisdictions. Costs are incurred in local currency (CAD, AUD, BRL, ZAR) but reported in USD; a strengthening local currency raises AISC in dollar terms with no change in mine efficiency.

Making AISC Comparable Across a Peer Group

When building a peer comparison table:

Use the company-reported AISC as the starting point
Check the reconciliation table for non-standard inclusions or exclusions
Restate by-product credits at a consistent set of commodity prices
Verify sustaining vs growth capex splits are broadly consistent
Average over 3 years to smooth lumpy capital spending
Note which companies include share-based compensation and which exclude it

With AISC on a consistent basis across the peer set, cost curve positioning and margin sensitivity do most of the screening work; open a valuation only on names that clear both.