African Barrick tightens full-year costs target

* Sees full-year all-in sustaining costs at $1,100 per ounce sold

* Third-quarter AISC falls 14 pct to $1,098 per ounce

* Third-quarter EBITDA rises 17 pct to $75.8 million

* Gold production up 16 pct to 190,986 ounces in third quarter

* Cuts 500 jobs at Bulyanhulu mine in third quarter (Adds details, CEO and analysts' comments; updates share movement)

Oct 23 (Reuters) - African Barrick Gold Plc (LSE: ABG.L - news) tightened its costs target for the full year as it increased output while also cutting jobs to beat the sharp drop in gold prices.

The miner reported a fall in overall expenses for an eighth successive quarter after it cut more than 500 jobs at its flagship Bulyanhulu mine in Tanzania in the third quarter ended Sept. 30.

African Barrick's stock was among the top percentage gainers on the FTSE-250 Midcap Index on Thursday, rising as much as 4.8 percent in early trading.

To beat shrinking gold prices, African Barrick has been accelerating production at Bulyanhulu, the largest of its three operating mines in Tanzania, by increasing its use of technology.

Many gold and silver miners were forced to shelve new projects and slash costs last year after prices of precious metals fell to their lowest in a decade. Gold fell 28 percent and silver plunged 36 percent in 2013.

"By the end of next year we expect Bulyanhulu to produce 350,000 ounces at $900 per ounce," Chief Executive Bradley Gordon told Reuters.

The mine, which produced 198,286 ounces of gold in 2013 at an overall cost of $1,344 per ounce sold, now employs around 1,900 people, compared with 3,400 a year ago.

African Barrick, which reported a 17 percent jump in third-quarter core profit, said it anticipates full-year costs at the lower end of it target range of $1,100-$1,175 per ounce sold.

All-in sustaining costs (AISC) - a widely used measure that includes production and exploration expenses - fell 14 percent to $1,098 per ounce sold in the third quarter.

The company also reiterated it was on track to exceed planned cost savings of $185 million this year.

"Every part of the business has been under review and we're still seeing lots of opportunity (in terms of reducing costs further), but mainly in the mining part of the business, the actual physical mining cycle," Gordon said.

Job cuts at the corporate level have also helped African Barrick reduce its cost base.

"The number of people in the business has reduced significantly; the number of expats has gone from 550 down to 200 and we see that number going lower," Gordon said.

African Barrick, which operates primarily in Tanzania, initiated an operational review last year after parent Barrick Gold Corp's failed attempt to sell the business to a Chinese buyer.

Core earnings, or earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA), rose to $75.8 million in the third quarter from $64.8 million a year earlier. Revenue rose 9 percent to $240.9 million.

African Barrick said gold production rose 16 percent to 190,986 ounces and reiterated its full-year target of more than 700,000 ounces of gold.

Shares (Berlin: DI6.BE - news) in the FTSE-250 company were up 3.4 percent at 201.7 pence at 1136 GMT. (Reporting by Roshni Menon in Bangalore; Editing by Feroze Jamal)