Newmont (TSX: NGT; NYSE: NEM) kicked off the second week of January with an announcement that it is dropping Goldcorp from its name and is also raising its quarterly dividend 79% to 25¢ per share, or US$1.00 per share a year, starting in April, in line with its commitment to return cash to shareholders.
In addition, the company says it plans to continue its recently announced stock repurchase program for up to US$1 billion of common equity. In the three months ended Dec. 31, the company retired 12.4 million shares worth US$506 million. In 2019, Newmont returned about US$1.4 billion to its shareholders.
In other news, Newmont completed the sale last week of its 50% stake in Kalgoorlie Consolidated Gold Mines to Australia’s Northern Star Resources for cash proceeds of US$800 million.
In combination with its prior agreements to sell Red Lake assets for US$375 million and its Continental Gold holding for US$260 million, the company expects to receive US$1.4 billion in cash proceeds in the first quarter.
Newmont also has updated its guidance following the divestiture and said it expects production of 6.4 million oz. gold this year and between 6.2 million oz. and 6.7 million oz. gold per year through 2024.
Guidance for all-in sustaining costs (AISCs) is unchanged at US$975 per oz. for 2020 and US$850 to US$950 per oz. in 2021 and 2022. These costs are forecast to drop to US$800 to US$900 per oz. in 2023 and 2024.
Development capital spend guidance stands at US$625 million for 2020, and is expected to decrease over the next five years to the sub-US$100 million range by 2024, the company said.
Newmont’s latest production guidance for 2019 was at 6.3 million oz. gold with AISCs of US$965 per oz. and US$550 million in spending on development capital, updated for the formation of the Nevada Gold Mines unit effective July 1, 2019.
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