TORONTO - Canadian gold miners say they're taking a careful look at their expenses and streamlining their operations as a looming interest rate hike from the U.S. Federal Reserve threatens to send the price of the precious metal lower.

"Our job and our strategy is to manage the company to thrive regardless of what price environment we find ourselves in," Charles Jeannes, president and CEO of Goldcorp Inc. (TSX:G), said during a conference call with investors Thursday.

"Our focus continues to be on what we can control: our costs. And at a time of flat or declining metals prices, that's how we must protect our margins."

The price of gold has lost roughly 40 per cent of its value since 2011, leaving miners scrambling to reduce how much they spend to produce each ounce. On Thursday, December gold futures closed at US$1,088.70, down $4.60 from the previous close.

The decline is likely to get even steeper as the Fed begins to raise interest rates, increasing confidence in the U.S. economy and spurring investors to ditch safe havens like precious metals in favour of U.S. dollars.

The central bank is expected to announce a rate hike this fall, although BMO Capital Markets analyst Andrew Kaip says it's possible the rate hike is already baked into the price of the precious metal.

"We're going to see what the market's response is on the day that the Fed announces that they're increasing the rate," Kaip said.

Goldcorp slashed its monthly dividend to two cents per share, from five cents earlier, as it reported its second-quarter profit more than doubled compared with a year ago, boosted by the sale of its stake in Tahoe Resources.

The Vancouver-based company said it earned US$392 million or 47 cents per share in the second quarter, up from $181 million or 22 cents per share during the same period last year. Revenue grew to $1.19 billion, up from $884 million a year ago.

But excluding the sale of its Tahoe Resources shares and its Arturo mine project as well as other one-time items, Goldcorp said it earned an adjusted profit of $65 million or eight cents per share, compared with $164 million or 20 cents per share a year ago.

The company attributed the drop to a number of factors including lower prices for gold and byproduct metals and higher production costs due to a slower ramp-up at its Eleonore mine in Quebec.

Kinross Gold (TSX:K), which reported its results after markets closed on Wednesday, swung to a loss of US$83.2 million or seven cents per share during the second quarter, from a profit of $46 million or four cents per share a year ago.

However, the company said it's ready to weather the storm of the declining gold price, with a number of initiatives underway to prune its expenses.

The cost-cutting theme was echoed by Agnico Eagle (TSX:AEM), which reported second-quarter net income of US$10.1 million or five cents per share after markets closed on Wednesday. That's down from $22.2 million or 12 cents per share a year ago.

Kaip says that although things may look bleak for the gold miners, many of them still have room to whittle down their expenses.

"Sure, earnings are down year-over-year, and you would expect that," said Kaip. "But these businesses are still doing a reasonably good job, from an operating perspective, in generating cash flow."

Looking ahead, Kaip says the U.S. dollar will eventually weaken, which will provide some reprieve for the gold price and miners.

Meanwhile, Jeannes says long-term trends, such as economic growth in Asia, support the price of the commodity will rise.

"The bottom line is that we're confident we can successfully weather any conceivable gold price environment," said Jeannes.

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News from © The Canadian Press, 2015