Newmont Corporation (NYSE:NEM) Q2 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Greg Barnes: Great. Okay. Thank you, Tom. That’s it from me.

Tom Palmer: Thanks Greg.

Operator: Thank you. [Operator Instructions] And our next question goes to Anita Soni of CIBC Markets. Anita, please go ahead, your line is open.

Anita Soni: Hi, good morning Tom and team. My first question with regards to the transaction, could you tell me, did the independent adviser or the independent expert for Newcrest reach that conclusion yet?

Tom Palmer: Good morning Anita and thank you for dialing in. I think that might be a little vacation period for you. So, good to hear your voice, and hopefully, you can get off this call and back to some better years of time. They’re still working through that process. So, that’s their working — it’s in train working through, but not finished yet. So, it’s — but it’s on schedule in terms of when we need that information in order to be able to proceed for the time line we had in the deck.

Anita Soni: Okay. And then the second question, and then I’ll go back into the queue. I’m just trying to get some of the grades that Rob quickly went through in terms of — so let’s start with Musselwhite. I think they said 30% improvement in tons mined and then grades by 40%. Is that a Q3 or Q4? If I do that in Q3, I get well above your guide.

Tom Palmer: We’re certainly starting to see a step-up in grade in both Q3 and Q4, pretty consistent across Q3 and Q4 for Musselwhite and it — we’re opening up with a nice double lift stope coming on, which is going to give us both some improvement in grade and volume. And then we’ve got some grades and some high-grade material also coming on as a result of the work in the first half. So, pretty consistent grade. Rob through the second half and certainly seeing a step-up in volume coming out. That will ramp up over the third and fourth quarter. So, the highest volume through the mill in the fourth quarter rate pretty consistent.

Anita Soni: Okay. And then just in terms of — I think at Ahafo where you were talking — or maybe it was achieved a 35% uptick in grades in Q3. Is that correct?

Tom Palmer: That’s right, Anita. So, in Akyem, we stepped out into stockpiles, got the — I mean, if those of you who know Akyem’s a long, narrow pit and so is where as we’re getting the last of the ore from the bottom of the pit and the current layback and wanting to bring down the next layback. We want to make sure that we maximize that also. We stepped out of the pit, made sure catch benches and the like rolling good shape. And swung into the stock — the stockpiles we would have been in, in the fourth quarter. And now we’re back in that ore. And so we basically got right of mine grade ore from the bottom of the pit coming through. You’ll see most of that through the — as now you see a good portion of that through the build through the third and fourth quarter now. It’s the highest grades in the fourth quarter, building up through the third.

Anita Soni: Okay. And then lastly, at Cerro Negro. I just want to make sure I heard you correctly. So 30% increase in tons mined and 50% increase in grade. But I don’t think Rob said which quarter it was. Is that — does that start in Q3, or is it Q4 weighted?

Tom Palmer: We see the step-up in grade at Cerro Negro pretty consistent through the third and fourth quarter at Cerro Negro. And then you’ll actually see — you see quite a step-up in tons mined as we’ve got more ability to access ore, particularly as we start to extract ore from San Marcos for the first time. So pretty consistent second half across Q3 and Q4, in terms of material coming through the mill and the grades looking pretty consistent through those two quarters from correct to the back.