Newmont approaches net cash as Palmer signs off
Gold miner reports earnings beat; cost and capital guidance lowered
Newmont Corporation (NYSE/ASX/PNGX: NEM) has reported its fourth consecutive quarter of over US$1 billion in free cashflow.
September quarter free cashflow was US$1.6 billion, just below the June quarter record of US$1.7 billion.
Incoming Newmont CEO Natascha Viljoen said free cashflow so far in 2025 had reached a record US$4.5 billion with one quarter still remaining.
The company reported net income of US$1.8 billion, adjusted net income of US$1.9 billion or US$1.71 per diluted share, a big beat on analyst consensus of US$1.42 per share, and adjusted EBITDA of US$3.3 billion.
Gold production was 1.4 million ounces, while copper production was 35,000 tonnes.
The company was preparing to declare commercial production at the Ahafo North project in Ghana by end of day on October 23, 2025.
Costs falling
Newmont reported the lowest costs so far this year, both a co-product and a by-product basis.
Gold co-product costs applicable to sales were US$1185 an ounce, while gold by-product costs applicable to sales were US$831/oz.
Gold co-product all-in sustaining costs were US$1566/oz, while gold by-product AISC was US$1303/oz.
Newmont maintained 2025 guidance of 5.9Moz of gold and AISC of US$1630/oz.
However, it lowered its general and administrative guidance by US$85 million and exploration and advanced projects spend by US$75 million, driven by lower labour and contractor costs across the organisation.
Guidance for reclamation and remediation accretion has improved by US$125 million and interest expense has improved by US$45 million following the reduction of nearly US$3.4 billion of debt during the year.
AISC guidance remained unchanged as improvements in the gold price were offset by higher royalties, production taxes, and costs from profit-sharing agreements.
“We made significant progress on the cost discipline and productivity work we announced at the beginning of the year, which has allowed us to meaningfully improve our 2025 guidance for several cost metrics, whilst maintaining our outlook for production and unit costs in a rising gold price environment, a notable success in today’s market,” Viljoen said.
“We achieved this by establishing a smaller senior leadership team with a decentralised organisational structure that is designed to sharpen accountability and simplify how we work.
“This includes consolidating our structure to two business units, giving our 12 operating sites greater decision-making authority and enabling faster, more agile execution.”
Newmont lowered its 2025 capital guidance by US$200 million, reflecting lower sustaining and development capital spend.
Balance sheet strengthening
Newmont reported “near-zero” net debt of just US$12 million after reducing debt by US$2 billion.
The company reported cash of US$5.6 billion and US$9.6 billion in total liquidity.
During the quarter, Newmont received net cash proceeds of nearly US$640 million from asset and equity sales, including the sale of shares in Orla Mining (TSX: OLA) and Discovery Silver (TSX: DSV), the receipt of the Akyem contingent payment, and the sale of the Coffee project.
The company returned US$823 million of capital to shareholders through share repurchases and dividend payments since July.
Newmont declared a quarterly dividend of US25c per share.
As cash builds and debt reduces, Viljoen said Newmont would remain disciplined.
Palmer says farewell
The quarterly conference call marked the last for outgoing CEO Tom Palmer, who announced his retirement last month.
He’ll formally step down on December 31.
Reflecting on his 12 years at Newmont, Palmer said he could not have predicted the transformation of the company during that period.
Palmer said Newmont stood as the benchmark for responsible gold mining.
“This portfolio we’ve built is unsurpassed in the gold industry,” he said.
“The long-life operations, the project pipeline that can be developed with discipline over time to be able to make decisions and lay out a portfolio of gold production supported by copper and a few other metals coming through has never been seen before in this industry.
“What I’m going to be looking forward to watching from Cottesloe Beach is, in the years to come – ’27, ’28, ’29, ’30, 2035 – looking at Newmont sustaining the sort of production levels and margins that no other gold company can compete with.
“That’s the thing that excites me.”