About Newmont

When mine promoter and financier Colonel William Boyce Thompson decides to create a company in 1916 to handle his larger private acquisitions – spanning oil and gas, mining and even hats – he names it the Newmont Company based on the assets he created in New York and his love for his home state of Montana. Reincorporated as Newmont Corporation in 1921, the word Mining is added to its name in 1925 as it sells its first shares to the public. Recognized for its “imposing array of financial and technical talent,” Newmont quickly becomes an industry leader, and its stock skyrockets from $40 to $236 in just four years.

With the acquisition of the Empire-Star Mines in California in 1929 and President Roosevelt’s decision to increase the fixed gold price from $20 per ounce to $35, Newmont weathers the Great Depression. The Company also becomes a shareholder of Magma Copper in Arizona – one of the largest copper producers in the United States – and opens copper mines in southern Africa and acquires two historic lead and zinc mines in Colorado.

Beginning in the 1930s, Newmont spends the next three decades growing steadily by acquiring new operations and diversifying its mining portfolio through joint ventures with established mining companies to include copper, gold and other minerals.

The Company experiments with new processing techniques for metals such as nickel and lithium, creates the largest cement plant in the United States, refines copper for use in the automotive industry, and puts together a consortium to acquire Peabody Coal – the largest coal miner in the United States. In all, Newmont grows its operations, producing 28 different products from mines, wells, plants and refineries in the United States, Canada, Africa, Peru and elsewhere.

In Nevada, Newmont discovers the world’s first submicroscopic or “invisible” gold at Carlin in the early 1960s and begins production on the first open pit gold mine in the world. Its mines on the Carlin Trend are the first in North America to produce 1 million ounces in a year. Carlin becomes the foundation of Newmont’s rise in the gold market.

By the mid-1980s, the Company is flush with cash, has little debt and is developing a growing gold district in Nevada. Many on Wall Street discover that Newmont’s parts are worth more than the whole, believing the Company’s non-gold assets are undervalued.

This attracts corporate raiders – Consolidated Gold Fields (ConsGold), T. Boone Pickens, Minorco, Hanson Industries and Sir James Goldsmith – who seek to break Newmont apart and sell its assets to increase shareholder value.

Newmont faces tumultuous times as it works to thwart these five takeover bids. While eventually successful, Newmont is left in significant debt by these battles, requiring it to divest its non-gold assets. Newmont’s Carlin Trend in Nevada remains as its primary asset, with fledgling operations in Indonesia and exploration plays in Peru and Uzbekistan.

Capital investments and acquisitions lift Newmont’s production and reserves during the 1990s. Yanacocha becomes the largest gold mine in South America. Operations begin in Uzbekistan and Indonesia, where Batu Hijau puts the Company back in the copper business.

In a bold move in 2002, the Company acquires two competitors, an Australian miner and a Canadian royalty holder, to become the largest gold producer in the world from 2002 to 2006. One acquired property in Ghana is quickly developed into a major new mine while subsequent acquisitions over the next 10 years add depth in Canada, Australia and Nevada.

In 2007, the Company eliminates its 1.5 million ounce legacy hedge book to make Newmont the world’s largest unhedged gold producer.

Proud of its record of environmental stewardship and commitment to bringing a better standard of living to the communities in which it operates, Newmont takes a leadership role in sustainability and becomes the first gold company to be included in the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index in 2007.

On January 6th, 2020, Newmont announced that the Company has refreshed its brand, name and logo to reflect its strong and stable foundation following two historic transactions in 2019. The Company’s refreshed brand is being unveiled as Newmont enters its centenary year in May of 2020 and will begin its next century of superior performance, value creation and sustainability leadership on May 2, 2021.