VANCOUVER (miningweekly.com) – NYSE-listed US gold major Newmont Mining has replaced all the gold reserves it unearthed in 2017 and managed to grow its global resource base too, it announced on Wednesday.
Gold reserves now total 68.5-million ounces for 2017, unchanged from 2016 as additions and revisions fully replaced depletion, the Denver, Colorado-based miner advised.
Newmont added 6.4-million ounces of gold reserves in 2017, including 4.4-million ounces through exploration and projects and two-million ounces through revisions and acquisitions.
Notable additions and revisions for the year include 1.8-million ounces at Boddington, 800 000 oz each at Carlin Underground and Cripple Creek & Victor, 70 000 equity ounces at Turquoise Ridge, 600 000 oz at Ahafo Open Pits and 400 000 oz at Tanami. These improvements demonstrate a strengthened reserve base across the portfolio, the miner noted.
Gold reserve grades decreased by 5% to 1.14 g/t, compared with 1.2 g/t in the prior year.
The company reported 2017 output of 5.3-million ounces, resulting in 6.4-million contained ounces of reserve depletion.
Further, gold resources (excluding reserves), increased to 48.2-million ounces, up 1% from the previous year and offsetting the conversion of resource ounces to reserves. Resource grades improved by 7% to 0.92 g/t gold.
Newmont added that copper reserves rose by 7% to 1.2-million tonnes, while copper resources were mainly unchanged at 2.3-million tonnes.
Newmont advised that exploration expenditures were expected to increase to about $230-million this year, with about 70% allocated to "just-in-time delivery" of the highest-margin reserves and resources and the remaining 30% allocated to greenfield, brownfield and innovation programmes.
Geographically, Newmont expects to spend about 39% of this amount in North America, 20% in Australia and the remainder in South America, Africa and other locations.
Newmont maintained its key gold price assumption at $1 200/oz for reserve calculations, and at $1 400/oz for resource calculations.