The Newmont Company was founded in 1916 in New York by ColonelWilliam Boyce Thompson as a holding company to invest in Worldwide mineral, oil, and related companies. According to company lore, the name "Newmont" is a portmanteau "New York" and "Montana", reflecting where Thompson made his fortune and where he grew up. Newmont made its first major gold investment in 1917, with a founding 25 percent in the Anglo American Corporation of South Africa. Four years later, in 1921, the Newmont Company reincorporated as the Newmont Corporation.[11]
In 1929, Newmont became a mining company with its first gold product in by acquiring California'sEmpire Star Mine. By 1939, Newmont was operating 12 gold mines in North America.
The company acquired interests overseas. For decades around the middle of the 20th century, Newmont had a controlling interest in the Tsumeb mine in Namibia and in the O'Okiep Copper Company in Namaqualand, South Africa.
Beginning in 1925, Newmont acquired interests in a Texasoil field. Eventually, Newmont's oil interests included more than 70 blocks in the Louisiana, Gulf of Mexico area and oil and gas production in the North Sea.
Fred Searls became president in 1947, after serving as the company's exploration geologist. Searls retired in 1954, and Plato Malozemoff took over as president.[12]
Newmont began mining at Carlin, Nevada, in 1965. The "Carlin Trend" or "Carlin Unconformity" is the largest gold discovery in North America during the 20th century. In 1971 Newmont began heap leaching low grade ores there.[13]
In 1987, defending against a $6.3 billion bid by T. Boone Pickens, the company paid a US$33 per share special dividend to all shareholders, US$2.2 billion in cash, of which US$1.75 billion was borrowed. To reduce this debt the company undertook a divestment program involving all of its copper, oil, gas, and coal interests.[16]
As a further step in the restructuring, the company moved its headquarters from New York City to Denver in 1988. A decade later, Newmont Mining Corporation and Newmont Gold Company combined assets to form a unified worldwide gold company. Shareholders of both companies had identical interests in the reserves, production and earnings of Newmont Gold's operations.
Newmont then merged with Santa Fe Railroad (a former Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway subsidiary, sold in preparation for the merger that produced the BNSF[17]) to form North America's largest gold producer.
On June 21, 2000, Newmont announced a merger with Battle Mountain Gold. The merger was completed in January 2001.
In February 2002, Newmont completed the acquisition of Normandy Mining and Franco-Nevada. Newmont faced competition in its bid for Normandy from AngloGold. By eventually outbidding the South African company, Newmont became the world's largest gold producer, with an annual production in excess of 8 million ounces.[18]
In 2007, the company eliminated its 1.5 million ounce legacy hedge book to make Newmont the world's largest unhedged gold producer. The following year, Newmont acquired Miramar Mining Corporation and its Hope Bay deposit in the Canadian Arctic.
In 2009, Newmont purchased the remaining one-third interest in Boddington Gold Mine from AngloGold Ashanti, bringing its ownership to 100 percent.
In April 2011, the company acquired Canada's Fronteer Gold Inc. for CA$2.3 billion. This made the company the world's second-largest gold producer.[19]
In 2017, Newmont produced 5.65 million ounces of gold at all-in sustaining costs of US$924 per ounce.[20] The company reported adjusted net income of $780 million for the year,[20] and further reduced net debt down to US$0.8 billion.[20]
In 2019, it acquired Canada's Goldcorp for $10 billion.[21] In May 2023, Newmont agreed terms to purchase Newcrest.[22][23] The Deal was completed in November 2023.[24]
In August 2004, the Indonesian Ministry of Environment filed a civil lawsuit against Newmont,[25] claiming tailings from the company's Minahasa Raya mine pollutedBuyat Bay. The company was cleared by an Indonesian court, with the judge ruling the pollution charges could not be proven.[26]
In 2009, a group of NGOs awarded Newmont with the Public Eye on Davos award (a criticism for "purely profit-oriented globalization") for its Akyem project in Ghana. Newmont said the award was issued based on several paragraphs of text which “clearly were intended to distort the facts”.[27]
In 2010, Newmont was fined $4.9 million by the Ghanaian Environmental Protection Agency for not preventing, reporting and investigating a cyanide spill at Ahafo mine in an "appropriate and timely manner".[28]
Pueblo Viejo mine
Pueblo Viejo mine is an open-pit gold and silver mine in the Sánchez Ramírez Province of the Dominican Republic where mining operations started in 2012 and expect to cease in 2041.[29] It is the largest gold mine in Latin America and 13th largest gold mine in the world.[30] The mine is run by Pueblo Viejo Dominicana Corporation (PVDC), which is 60% owned by Barrick Gold Corporation and 40% owned by Newmont Corporation.[29]
Pueblo Viejo employs approximately 2,350 employees and 2,500 contractors.[31] The economic activities of the mine represent 2% of the Dominican Republic’s gross domestic product[32] and Pueblo Viejo is the largest corporate taxpayer in the country.[33]
The mine has generated an environmental conflict, because pollution from the tailings dam and windblown particulates have contaminated rivers and killed local livestock who ingested the toxins.[34] Local communities say that the mine has ruined their lives and caused many health problems: skin lesions are common;[35] children are sickened by chemical vapors;[36] and agricultural land is no longer productive.[37] Local people have asked to be relocated away from the mine since 2013,[38] but the government nor the company have responded to their requests.
The company proposed to expand the mine in 2019, meeting with fierce resistance from communities in Yamasá who would be impacted by the expansion.[39]
Former operations
Newmont has purchased and sold a number of operations in recent years:
Red Lake Mine: Newmont completed sale of Red Lake mine for $375 million on March 31, 2020.[40]
Continental Gold: Newmont sold its 19.9 percent equity stake and convertible bond in Continental Gold Inc. for $260 million on March 5, 2020.[41]
Golden Grove Mine: Owned by Normandy Mining since 1991, Golden Grove was acquired by Newmont Australia Ltd in February 2002 when Newmont took over Normandy.[43] Newmont sold the mine to Oxiana Limited in June 2005 for A$265 million.[44]
Pajingo: Pajingo (100% owned) is an underground mine located approximately 93 miles (150 kilometers) southwest of Townsville, Queensland, and 45 miles (72 kilometers) south of the local township of Charters Towers. Newmont sold the mine in late 2007; it is now owned by Conquest Mining.[45]
Bronzewing Gold Mine: View Resources purchased the mine in July 2004 from Newmont for A$9.0 million, a package that also included the Mount McClure mining operation, 8 km west of Bronzewing.[46]
Wiluna Gold Mine: Also part of the Normandy acquisition, in December 2003 Newmont sold Wiluna to a local management buyout team for shares and A$3.65 million in cash. The mine was onsold 3 years later for A$29.5 million.[47][48]
Zarafshan: Newmont was part of a joint venture gold project in Uzbekistan, the first major Western investment in the region since the breakup of the Soviet Union. A difficult place to operate, Uzbekistan expropriated the company's assets in 2006.[49]
Kori Kollo: The Kori Kollo open pit mine is on a high plain in northwestern Bolivia near Oruro, on government mining concessions issued to a Bolivian corporation, Empresa Minera Inti Raymi S.A. (“Inti Raymi”), in which Newmont had an 88% interest. The remaining 12% was owned by Mrs. Beatriz Rocabado. Inti Raymi owned and operated the mine. On July 23, 2009, Newmont announced the transfer of its interest in Empresa Minera Inti Raymi S.A., which owned the Kori Kollo gold mine and Kori Chaca gold mine, to Compania Procesadora de Minerales S.A. ("CPM"), a company controlled by Newmont's long-time Bolivian partner Jose Mercado.[50]
Minahasa: Newmont owns 80% of Minahasa and the remaining 20% interest is a carried interest held by P.T. Tanjung Serapung, an unrelated Indonesian company. Minahasa is located on the island of Sulawesi, approximately 1,500 miles (2,414 kilometers) northeast of Jakarta. Mining was completed in late 2001 and gold production was completed in 2004.
Golden Giant: Newmont's Canadian operations previously included two underground mines. Golden Giant (100% owned) was located approximately 25 miles (40 kilometers) east of Marathon, Ontario, Canada, and had been in production since 1985. Mining operations at Golden Giant were completed in December 2005 with remnant mining and milling production continuing throughout most of 2006.[51]
Holloway: Holloway was located approximately 35 miles (56 kilometers) east of Matheson, Ontario, and about 400 miles (644 kilometers) northeast of Golden Giant. It was in production since 1996. On November 6, 2006, Newmont completed the sale of the Holloway mine to St. Andrews Goldfields Ltd. resulting in a $13 pre-tax gain.[52]
Martha Mine: Newmont completed the sale of its Waihi assets in New Zealand in October 2015.[53]
Batu Hijau mine: Newmont completed the sale of Batu Hijau to PT Amman Mineral Internasional in 2016.[54]
^Fahey, John (1990). Hecla: A Century of Western Mining. Seattle: University of Washington Press. pp. 77, 110–111, 152. ISBN9780295970141.
^Coope, J. Alan (1991). SP013: Carlin trend exploration history: Discovery of the Carlin deposit. Reno, NV: NV Bureau of Mines & Geology. p. 5. CiteSeerX10.1.1.568.5758.
US$11.487 billion (2020)[1]
14,300[2] (2020)
