Newcrest soldiers on as growth projects advance

Newcrest managing director Sandeep Biswas said costs trended lower in the second half of the year, with Cadia in NSW achieving its lowest ever annual AISC of negative $124 per ounce.

Activities to remediate instability in one of the ventilation rises at Cadia have been completed and underground mining has safely resumed, after about a month’s interruption to work which involved staff evacuations. Cave production has steadily ramped up over recent days, with the mine now returned to full capacity.

“Our balance sheet has also remained extremely robust with significant liquidity available to support our growth aspirations,” Biswas said.

“Works have continued to advance across our global organic growth portfolio, with Cadia, Havieron (WA), Red Chris (Canada), and Lihir (PNG) all expected to reach key study milestones throughout FY23.

“We are very pleased to have a substantial and increasing exposure to copper, a critical metal of the future with a positive long term outlook that will allow us to participate in the potential opportunities presented by a global shift to decarbonisation.”

“In March 2022, we completed the acquisition of Pretium Resources, adding the high grade Brucejack mine to our quality portfolio. We are now the leading gold miner in the Tier 1 jurisdiction of British Columbia, with global exposure to six Tier 1 orebodies and a significant long-life advantage compared to our peers.

“Brucejack has generated immediate production and cash flows for the group and our three-phase transformation program has already made exciting progress with a number of initiatives underway to maximise the long-term potential of this asset and district.”

Newcrest also reported an impressive safety record.

“Pleasingly, we are now nearly seven years free of fatalities, which is a credit to our people and testament to how far safety is embedded into our culture,” Biswas said.

“We continue to make inroads into building a high performing, inclusive and psychologically safe workplace, and remain steadfastly focused on eliminating sexual assault and sexual harassment in our workplace.

“We’ve also continued to progress our sustainability agenda through the development of our Group Net Zero Emissions Roadmap, which will outline the pathway for Newcrest to deliver its goal of net zero carbon emissions by 2050.

“We are delighted with the progress made against our Forging an Even Stronger Newcrest aspirations this year and are well positioned for a very bright future, with our strong exploration and technical capabilities, a robust balance sheet, and a clear, well understood growth strategy.”

Australian Mining.

gold
mining
inflationary