The world’s largest gold miner Newmont Goldcorp, is forecasting steady gold production of 6.5-million to 7-million ounces of attributable gold production and 1.2-million to 1.4-million gold-equivalent ounces of copper, silver, lead and zinc production for the next five years.

In its five-year outlook, the company announced a 2020 gold production guidance of 6.7-million ounces at an all-in sustaining cost (AISC) of $975/oz.

The miner expects to produce about 1.1-million gold-equivalent ounces from other metals in 2020.

The gold costs applicable to sales is $750/oz for 2020 and between $650/oz and $750/oz for 2021 and 2022. CAS is expected to improve to between $600/oz and $700/oz for 2023 and 2024.

The AISC guidance is between $850/oz and $950/oz for 2021 and 2022, improving to between $800/oz and $900/oz for 2023 and 2024.

“As Newmont enters our centenary year in 2020, our people, mines, projects and balance sheet are all very well positioned to deliver stable and sustainable industry leading performance,” said president and CEO Tom Palmer.

“Our outlook also highlights our steadily improving cost profile, which includes more than half-a-billion dollars per year in sustainable operating cost and supply chain improvements by 2021,” he added.

The miner guided development capital of $575-million for 2020 and $500-million to $600-million for 2021.

Development capital includes Tanami Expansion 2 in Australia, Subika Underground in Ghana, Cerro Negro in Argentina, Musselwhite in Canada, expenditure related to the company’s ownership interest in Nevada Gold Mines and to progress studies for future projects.

Attributable sustaining capital guidance is $975-million for 2020 and is expected to be between $0.9-billion to $1.1-billion longer-term through 2024.

Meanwhile, Newmont also announced that it would repurchase up to $1-billion of common equity in the next 12 months.

The programme would be executed at the company’s discretion, using open market repurchases to occur from time-to-time throughout the authorisation period.

“Working closely with our board of directors, we determined that current market conditions, combined with $635-million of expected cash proceeds from the sales of Red Lake and our equity investment in Continental, create a compelling opportunity to initiate our $1-billion share buyback programme over the next 12 months whilst we continue to return cash to shareholders through sustainable dividends,” said Palmer.