After Newmont acquisition spree, COO Natascha Viljoen says margin expansion is focus

Cost containment and productivity gains are a priority at Newmont, said Natascha Viljoen, Executive VP and COO of the company.

This week, Viljoen spoke to Kitco Mining at the Gold Forum Americas / XPL-DEV 2024 in Colorado.

Newmont is the world's largest gold producer by output. It also produces copper, zinc, lead, and silver. Over the past year, the company has been active in mergers and acquisitions (M&A). In 2023, it acquired the world’s fifth-largest gold miner, Newcrest, for $17.4 billion. The company is now in the process of divesting some of its assets. This month, Newmont announced plans to sell its Telfer and Havieron stake to Greatland Gold for $475 million.

Gold has reached several all-time highs in 2024. With high metal prices, the company has room to take a long-term view of its cost structure, Viljoen said.

"It’s absolutely a focus with this portfolio of assets that we have today," Viljoen said. "The current work underway is to reevaluate productivity, mine design, and the fundamentals of mining to address challenges."

Viljoen emphasized that the company is not speculating on the long-term outlook for any particular metal.

"[We are] not specifically focused on copper or gold," Viljoen said. "We are focused on value generation."

On the topic of investing in more junior companies, Viljoen stated that the primary focus remains on Newmont's existing pipeline.

"If there’s capital allocation that will truly generate value, I think that would present an opportunity," Viljoen said. "But we would be hard-pressed to look beyond the value we need to generate from our existing, newly expanded portfolio."

Coverage of the Gold Forum Americas / XPL-DEV 2024 is sponsored by Metalla Royalty.

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