For the year ended December 31, 2007, Newmont Mining reported equity gold sales of 5.3 Moz at costs applicable to sales of $406/oz. Richard O’Brien, President and CEO, said, “We are pleased with our operating results from the fourth quarter, resulting in gold sales performance consistent with our original expectations for the year. We expect our 2008 gold sales performance to be comparable with our 2007 results, with equity gold sales expected to be between 5.1 and 5.4 Moz at costs applicable to sales of between $425 and $450/oz. Building on our strong operating performance from the third and fourth quarters of 2007, as well as the momentum we established with the completion of our Miramar acquisition and the sale of our royalty assets and certain other equity interests in December, we have embarked on 2008 with a renewed focus on operational and project execution as well as financial performance.”
The Company reported year end 2007 proven and probable reserves of 86.5 Moz equity ounces compared with 93.9 Moz at the end of 2006. During 2007 the company added 4.2 Moz of gold reserves due to margin changes and additional drilling. The gold price basis for the reserve calculations increased to $575/oz in 2007 from $500/oz in 2006. Gold reserves were revised down at Ahafo in Ghana by 2.4 Moz due to increasing operating and capital costs, by 0.8 Moz at Nevada due to geotechnical and metallurgical changes, as well as higher operating costs, and by 0.2 Moz at various locations due to operating cost inflation. Gold reserves were also impacted by 0.9 Moz as a result of the previously announced reduction of the company’s economic ownership at Batu Hijau in Indonesia and by the sale of Pajingo in Australia.
For 2007, the reserve additions from exploration of roughly 3.5 Moz were primarily due to further extension drilling at Boddington, Jundee and Tanami in Australia, with 2.5 Moz added to reserves in 2007, and the remaining additions coming from Batu Hijau, several open pit and underground sites in Nevada, and La Herradura in Mexico.