Newmont Mining, the world’s largest producer of gold, announced record results today for the year ended 31 December 2010.
Revenue of $9.5 billion represents a 24 percent increase over 2009. Gold and copper production came in at 5.4 million ounces and 327 million pounds, respectively, with gold production up only slightly while copper production was up almost 44 percent over 2009.
In Q4 2010 Newmont produced 1.4 million ounces of gold and 74 million pounds of copper.
"I am pleased to report that we generated record operating cash flow for the second year in a row, with our gold operating margin growing by 30 percent to $737 per ounce on an average realized gold price of $1,222 in 2010," said Richard O'Brien, President and CEO.
During 2010 Newmont benefited from the first full year of production at its Boddington mine in Australia, and a full year of mining higher grade ore from the bottom of the pit at Batu Hijau in Indonesia.
Newmont also reported that its capital expenditures were $1.4 billion in 2010, down from $1.8 billion in 2009 due to the completion of construction at Boddington, which went into commercial production in November 2009.
In a separate announcement today, Newmont also announced it had increased its attributable gold reserves by 1.7 million ounces to 93.5 million ounces in 2010, and its copper reserves to a record 9.4 billion pounds, an increase of 3 percent over 2009.
The largest contributor to higher gold reserves in 2010 was North America, with significant additions at La Herradura in Mexico and Leeville-Turf, Twin Creeks and Phoenix in Nevada.
Newmont has budgeted $360 million for its exploration program in 2011, an increase of approximately 44 percent from 2010.
