Operational woes ding Newmont, lowers guidance

The world's largest gold miner, Newmont (TSE:NGT), said today it produced 1.45 million attributable ounces of gold during Q3.

The all-in-sustaining-cost was $1,120 per ounce.

The company said it generated $1.1 billion of cash from continuing operations and $735 million of free cash flow.

Gold production in Q3 was the same as the prior quarter, but down from a year ago due to "... lower throughput at Nevada Gold Mines as a result of a mechanical failure in May 2021 which resulted in a partial shutdown of the Goldstrike mill at Carlin until it was fully repaired in September 2021, lower leach production, mill recovery and ore grade milled at CC&V, lower throughput at Tanami as the mine was placed under care and maintenance in July 2021 and lower throughput, grade milled and recovery at Boddington."

Newmont said that the decreases were partially offset by higher throughput at Cerro Negro due to reduced operations in the prior year quarter in response to Covid.

The company revised its outlook to 5.9 million ounces of consolidated gold production, down from 6.4 million forecast in December 2020.

Consolidated gold all in sustaining costs are up from $970 to $1,050 an ounce.

Newmont was off 3.87% to $68.34 a share as of 12:45 p.m. ET.

The company sees challenges at its Canadian and Australian operations partly due to the pandemic. Newmont's Boddington Mine is located in Western Australia.

"The revised outlook for attributable gold production includes adjustments for operational challenges at Boddington and Nevada Gold Mines, as well as the continued impact from the global pandemic, primarily in Canada and Australia," wrote Newmont. "Boddington experienced challenges from severe weather, shovel reliability, operational delays associated with managing bench hygiene and the continued ramp-up of AHS to full productivity. As a result, Boddington delivered lower ex-pit tons than expected, with full-year 2021 gold production anticipated to be approximately 140 thousand ounces below original guidance estimates."

By Michael McCrae

For Kitco News

Follow michaelmccraemmccrae@kitco.comwww.kitco.com Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect those of Kitco Metals Inc. The author has made every effort to ensure accuracy of information provided; however, neither Kitco Metals Inc. nor the author can guarantee such accuracy. This article is strictly for informational purposes only. It is not a solicitation to make any exchange in commodities, securities or other financial instruments. Kitco Metals Inc. and the author of this article do not accept culpability for losses and/ or damages arising from the use of this publication.

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