4/23/2026

speaker
Christine
Conference Operator

Hello and welcome to Newmont's first quarter 2026 results conference call. All participants will be in listen-only mode. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. Please note that this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Newmont's Group Head of Treasury and Investor Relations, Neil Backhouse. Neil, please go ahead.

speaker
Neil Backhouse
Group Head of Treasury and Investor Relations

Thank you, Christine. Hello, everyone, and thank you for joining Newmont's first quarter 2026 results conference call. Joining me today are Natasha Fulhoun, our President and Chief Executive Officer, Peter Wexler, our Interim Chief Financial Officer and Chief Legal Officer, and other members of our management team who will be available to answer questions at the end of the call. Before we begin, please take a moment to review our cautionary statement shown here and refer to our SEC filings, which can be found on our website. With that, I'll turn the call over to Natasha.

speaker
Natasha Fulhoun
President and Chief Executive Officer

Thank you Neil and hello everyone. Newmont's focus on operational excellence continues to deliver consistent and predictable performance, with our first quarter results demonstrating that we are on track to achieve our 2026 guidance. And importantly, this consistency is reflected in our compelling financial results. Our unrivaled portfolio of high quality operations and projects, combined with our focus on cost discipline and productivity, positions us to capture the benefits of higher commodity prices, even amid the operational headwinds we experienced in the first quarter, delivering margin expansion and robust free cash flow generation. The benefits of record free cash flow generation are flowing through our our enhanced capital allocation framework, resulting in continuous reinvestment in our business, a predictable quarterly dividend and ongoing share repurchases, supplemented by a new $6 billion share repurchase authorization. But before we review our quarterly results in more detail, I want to begin with an update on Cadia following the magnitude 4.5 earthquake that occurred near the operation on April 14. As mentioned in our released statements, our immediate priority was the safety of our people. Our safety protocols operated as designed and within minutes of the event, all personnel working underground were moved to safe locations. before being brought to surface in the subsequent hours following the event. And I'm really pleased to share that there were no injuries. Based on our initial findings, the damage appears limited, reflecting the strength of our ground control systems. I'm pleased to report that the underground power and dewatering systems have been restored, and we received approval from the regulator earlier this week to begin repairs. Importantly, all surface infrastructure was inspected immediately following the event and sustained no damage. This includes our tailings facilities. From an operational standpoint, we are currently processing surface stockpiles and expect underground rehabilitation to be completed in the next five weeks, enabling return to 80% operating capacity, with full recovery expected by the end of the second quarter. As a result, second quarter production is expected to be lower due to this short gap in mill feed, with operations returning to normal levels beginning the third quarter. I want to recognize and personally thank the team at CAIDIA. We responded quickly and effectively, implementing established emergency procedures to ensure the safety of all personnel and positioning the operation for the best possible recovery. Turning now to operational performance, in the first quarter we produced 1.3 million ounces of gold, 30,000 tonnes of copper and 9 million ounces of silver, with both copper and silver volumes supporting a favourable by-product cost profile for the quarter. As the third largest silver producer in the world, we also benefited from a favourable silver price environment, further supporting our free cash flow generation and unit cost management. The performance translated into strong financial results, including $3.8 billion in cash flow from operations after working capital and $3.1 billion in free cash flow. marking another all-time quarterly record, which is especially notable given the seasonal working capital headwinds typically experienced in the first quarter of each year. During the quarter, we also received approximately $321 million in after-tax proceeds from the sale of equity investments in Solgold and Greatland Resources. along with contingent payments related to the divestments of Musselwhite and Cribble Creek and Victor last year, bringing total after-tax proceeds received from our non-core divestiture program to over $4.6 billion. Touching briefly on cost performance, which Peter will cover in a little bit more detail shortly, Over the last few weeks, the world has experienced a notable increase in energy prices and impacts to global supply chain dynamics as a result of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. We continue to monitor the geopolitical environment and its potential impact on cost closely, but remain encouraged by our demonstrated ability to effectively manage cost and improve productivity, and are therefore maintaining our full-year cost guidance at this time. Taking our strong first quarter operational and financial performance into account, we expect to remain well positioned to continue executing on the enhanced capital allocation framework that we have announced in February. Since our last earnings call, we have reduced debt by an additional $42 million and are pleased to share that we have returned $2.7 billion to shareholders through both regular dividends and ongoing share repurchases. fully exhausting our previous repurchase authorisation. In line with our established approach, our board has approved another $6 billion shared repurchase program, reinforcing our enhanced capital allocation framework and disciplined approach to returning excess cash to shareholders. This framework is designed to systematically reduce Newmont's share count and in doing so, driving sustainable per share dividend growth and improved across other key per share metrics. Building on our strong first quarter performance and looking ahead to the rest of the year, we will remain on track to achieve our 2026 guidance, continue generating robust free cash flow from our world class portfolio and return capital to shareholders in a consistent manner. Operationally, we delivered a stronger than expected quarter, especially considering challenging conditions faced by several of our sites. including the bushfires at Boddington, where we have since made a full recovery with full throughput capacity back to normal levels for the second quarter. We've had extreme snowfall at Brucejack and record levels of rainfall at Tanami. This performance underscores the strength and resilience of our world-class portfolio, built around high-quality long-life assets that are intentionally diversified. both operationally and jurisdictionally, to deliver consistent performance across a range of operating conditions, not only withstanding volatility as it arises, but also capturing value from it. Giving this strong start to the year, we believe it is appropriate to maintain our existing production weighting. Our first quarter outperformance provides prudent flexibility to absorb any impact from temporary interruptions to more feed at KDI in the second quarter. as we progress recovery efforts following the earthquake. First quarter production was driven by several key factors. At Kaidea, we saw a step up in gold and copper production compared to the fourth quarter, supported by improved throughput and favourable grades from the current panel cave. At Merion, production also increased compared to the fourth quarter as we begin to access higher grades from Merion to Pitt as planned. At Ahofo South, production increased due to higher mining rates and improved underground draw point availability. At Yanakocha, we delivered stronger leach production performance from high grades out of Kachamain. And as we discussed last quarter, we have begun executing on a highly capital efficient plan to continue mining operations through 2026 and into 2027. adding low cost ounces that are expected to benefit our production profile in 2027 with further potential upside. Benesquito delivered strong co-product production in the quarter, particularly silver and zinc, as we continue to process stockpiles during the transition phase between phase seven and phase eight. And finally, the ramp up at Ahofo North continues to progress very well and in line with the plan in line with plan in its first full year of commercial production. We also achieved several notable milestones in our projects in execution during the quarter. At our Tanamai Expansion 2 project, work has now fully resumed following the temporary pause earlier in the quarter. with the underground primary crusher now commissioned, and the materials handling system on track for completion by the end of the second quarter. We have also completed the investigation into the fatality that occurred at Tanami earlier this year, and are committed to ensuring the learnings are shared across our organization and with the broader industry. At Kaedeo, both BC2-3 and BC1-2 are progressing well and is tracking to plan as they move through key phases of development. Newmont's first quarter performance continues to highlight the strength and resilience of our portfolio, as well as the progress we have made to stabilize and improve our operations, positioning us to deliver consistent performance and achieve our full year commitments. I will now turn the call over to Peter to walk through our financial results for the quarter.

Disclaimer

This conference call transcript was computer generated and almost certianly contains errors. This transcript is provided for information purposes only.EarningsCall, LLC makes no representation about the accuracy of the aforementioned transcript, and you are cautioned not to place undue reliance on the information provided by the transcript.

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