(All figures in U.S. dollars) (Adds market forecast comparison, operating data)
April 26 (Reuters) - Canadian gold miner Goldcorp Inc G.TO reported better-than-expected first-quarter earnings on Wednesday as a $250 million-a-year cost-cutting plan started to take effect.
The world's fourth-largest gold producer by market value maintained its 2017 forecast for production of around 2.5 million ounces of gold at all-in sustaining costs of approximately $850 an ounce.
Vancouver-based Goldcorp reported net earnings of $170 million, or 20 cents a share, in the three months through the end of March. That compared with earnings of $80 million, or 10 cents per share, a year earlier.
Adjusted for various non-cash items, earnings were 10 cents a share, ahead of analysts' average forecast of 8 cents a share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
The miner, which has operations in North and South America, said its all-in sustaining costs to produce an ounce of gold declined to $800 in the first quarter from $836 in the same period a year ago. First-quarter gold output fell to 655,000 ounces compared with 784,000 ounces a year ago.
Goldcorp in January laid out an ambitious growth plan that included increasing production as well as yet-to-be-mined reserves by 20 percent over the next five years and cutting costs by the same amount.