Newmont Vows to Boost Returns After Record Free Cash Generation
Growth projects progressing as notice of default sent to Barrick over Nevada performance
Newmont Corporation (NYSE: NEM) reported record free cashflow generation for the fourth quarter and 2025.
The company reported fourth quarter adjusted net income of US$2.8 billion or US$2.52 per diluted share, and full-year adjusted net income of US$7.6 billion, or US$6.89 per share.
Adjusted EBITDA for the year was US$13.5 billion.
Newmont generated US$10.3 billion of cash from operating activities, net of working capital impacts of US$210 million and record full-year free cashflow of US$7.3 billion, including a record US$2.8 billion in the fourth quarter.
The company achieved full-year guidance with production of 5.7 million attributable gold ounces from Newmont’s core portfolio, for a total of 5.9Moz, as well as 28Moz of silver and 135,000 tonnes of copper at gold by-product all-in sustaining costs of US$1358 an ounce and co-product AISC of US$1609/oz.
Returns boosted
Newmont declared an increased fourth quarter dividend of US26c per share and announced a new capital allocation framework.
Sustaining capital investment remains the company’s top capital priority, followed by dividends.
The company has committed to a sustainable cash dividend of US$1.1 billion per year with a focus on growing dividends on a per-share basis without increasing Newmont’s financial commitment, as share repurchases continue to lower share count.
The next priority is development capital, followed by balance sheet resilience, anchored by a US$1 billion net cash target, with flexibility of plus or minus US$2 billion, depending on market conditions.
The company ended 2025 with net cash of US$2.1 billion, with US$7.6 billion in cash and US$11.6 billion in total liquidity.
Newmont will deploy excess cash to share repurchases with US$2.4 billion remaining in its US$6 billion buyback.
“This approach is expected to drive sustained per share growth in our dividend and provide shareholders with greater exposure to the strong free cashflow generated from our portfolio,” Newmont acting chief financial officer Peter Wexler said.
“Even with the recent increase in our share price, our shares represent an exceptional value given our world-class portfolio of long-life operations and our deep pipeline of gold and copper projects.”
2026 outlook
Production for 2026 is expected to be 5.3Moz of gold, including over 3.9Moz of gold from Newmont’s managed operations.
“2026 represents a trough in our production cycle due to planned mine sequencing across several operations, as we position the portfolio to return to production growth in 2027 and beyond, maintaining our longer-term outlook of approximately 6 million ounces of gold and 150,000 tonnes of copper annually,” Newmont CEO Natascha Viljoen said.
Gold by-product AISC is expected to be US$1,680/oz.
“We have made great strides towards improving and managing the costs within our control, and this will remain a key priority in 2026, especially when operating in a volatile macroeconomic environment,” Viljoen said.
“Last year, we committed to measuring the success of our cost and productivity program by our ability to control absolute costs and in 2026, the only expected increases to our cost applicable to sales are those directly linked to timing impacts and higher gold prices.
‘Importantly, even with these price-linked impacts, our all-in sustaining costs are expected to be more than US$100 per ounce lower than they would have been without the cost savings initiative launched last year, demonstrating the structural improvements we’ve made to our cost base.”
Sustaining capital spend is expected to be around US$1.95 billion to advance critical tailings facility work at Cadia and Boddington, and ventilation enhancements at Tanami, all in Australia.
Development capital spend is expected to be US$1.4 billion to progress key near-term development projects including the Cadia Panel Caves, Tanami Expansion 2 and the feasibility study at Red Chris in Canada.
The company will also invest US$140 million in the Lihir Nearshore Barrier mine life extension in Papua New Guinea, which will unlock future access to production of over 5Moz of gold and extending Lihir’s mine life beyond 2040.
Newmont reported reserves of 118.2Moz of gold, 12.5 million attributable tonnes of copper and 442Moz of silver, representing 40 years of production life.
Viljoen said Newmont was happy with its current portfolio and growth projects, but said the company was open to changes “in a disciplined way” if opportunities arose.
Default notice sent
Earlier this month, Newmont released a statement on Barrick Mining Corporation’s (NYSE: B) proposed initial public offering of its North American assets.
Newmont has a 38.5% interest in Nevada Gold Mines (NGM) in the US and a 40% interest in Pueblo Viejo in the Dominican Republic, both operated by Barrick.
At the time, Newmont expressed concern about the operation and management of NGM due to “a degradation in performance and subsequent asset value over the past six years”.
Newmont confirmed it had sent a notice of default to Barrick on February 3 under the NGM joint venture agreement.
Viljoen said confidentiality provisions in the JV agreement prevented her from commenting further.
“Our primary focus remains on working with the managing partner to improve performance of these assets and generate long term value for Newmont shareholders,” she said.