All-in sustaining cost, usually abbreviated AISC, is a non-GAAP mining metric intended to show the cost of maintaining current gold production on a per-ounce basis.
A simplified relationship is:
1AISC
2ā Total Cash Cost
3+ Sustaining Capital
4+ Other Sustaining CostsThe exact reconciliation is issuer-defined and should be read directly from the company's disclosure.
Why AISC exists
A simple production cash-cost metric can omit spending that is necessary to keep a mine operating at its current level. AISC was developed to bring more of those sustaining expenditures into a single measure.
Common additions can include:
- sustaining capital expenditures;
- sustaining mine development or capitalized stripping;
- sustaining exploration;
- reclamation-related costs;
- corporate general and administrative costs; and
- sustaining lease costs.
The World Gold Council describes AISC as a non-GAAP metric intended to provide greater transparency into the costs associated with sustaining gold production.
AISC is not total lifecycle cost
AISC should not be read as the full economic cost of discovering, building, expanding, financing, and closing a mine.
Major growth projects, new-mine development, some non-sustaining exploration, financing charges, taxes, acquisitions, and other excluded items may sit outside the measure.
That is why AISC is different from all-in cost, which can include additional non-sustaining items.
AISC versus total cash cost
Total Cash Cost is usually narrower.
A simplified bridge is:
1Total Cash Cost
2+ Sustaining Capital
3+ Sustaining Exploration / Reclamation / Corporate Items
4= AISCIf a miner reports $900 per ounce of total cash cost and $300 per ounce of additional sustaining items, AISC would be approximately $1,200 per ounce.
The gap between cash cost and AISC can be economically important for mature or capital-intensive mines.
Sustaining versus growth classification matters
Sustaining Capital Expenditures are intended to maintain current operations. Growth capital is generally associated with new projects or material expansions.
The distinction requires judgment. Two miners can classify similar projects differently depending on their mine plans and accounting or reporting policies.
For peer comparison, inspect what the issuer labels sustaining rather than assuming every reported AISC uses identical capital classifications.
The denominator matters
AISC is often reported per ounce sold, not necessarily per ounce produced.
Inventory changes can therefore create differences between production economics and reported per-ounce AISC. Some issuers may also present attributable rather than consolidated production.
Preserve:
- ounces sold versus produced;
- gold-only versus gold-equivalent output;
- consolidated versus attributable basis; and
- by-product treatment.
AISC is not GAAP cost of sales
AISC is reconciled from GAAP or IFRS amounts, but it is not itself a standardized GAAP line item.
Newmont, Barrick, and other major producers provide reconciliations between reported expenses and AISC. Those reconciliations are more important than assuming the label alone guarantees comparability.
What can move AISC
AISC can change because of:
- Ore Grade;
- Metallurgical Recovery Rate;
- Strip Ratio;
- labor and energy costs;
- royalties;
- maintenance;
- sustaining capital timing;
- production volume; and
- currency movements.
A higher gold price can also increase royalties in some jurisdictions or contracts, meaning AISC does not always move independently of commodity prices.
Filing examples
Newmont's 2025 annual report reconciles costs applicable to sales, reclamation, exploration, general and administrative expense, treatment and refining, and sustaining capital into AISC. Barrick similarly reconciles total cash costs into AISC and identifies sustaining capital, leases, corporate costs, exploration, and reclamation-related items.
Sources:
Bottom line
AISC is a useful sustaining-cost measure, not a complete mine-lifecycle cost or GAAP profit metric. Investors should preserve the issuer's reconciliation, sustaining-versus-growth classification, output denominator, by-product treatment, and mine-level operating context before comparing companies.
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