Newmont (TSX:NGT) held its first-quarter earnings conference call on Thursday. Below is the complete transcript from the call.
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The full earnings call is available at https://events.q4inc.com/attendee/351410623
Summary
Newmont reported strong Q1 2026 results with significant free cash flow generation of $3.1 billion and $3.8 billion in cash flow from operations.
The company faced operational challenges like a magnitude 4.5 earthquake near Cadia but managed to ensure safety and expects to return to full capacity by end of Q2.
A new $6 billion share repurchase authorization was announced, reinforcing Newmont’s capital allocation framework to return value to shareholders.
Despite geopolitical and energy cost pressures, Newmont maintains its cost guidance, leveraging productivity improvements and supply chain management.
Key operational highlights include strong gold, copper, and silver production, with record free cash flow driven by favorable metal prices and cost management.
Full Transcript
OPERATOR
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.
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 Foljoun, 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.
Natasha Foljoun
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 unrivalled 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 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 authorisation. 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 milk feed, with operations returning to normal levels beginning the third quarter. I want to recognise and personally thank the team at Cadia. 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 our 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 favorable by product cost profile for the quarter. As the third largest silver producer in the world. We also benefited from a favorable 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 Cripple Creek Invicta 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 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 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. Build 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 whiting. Our first quarter outperformance provides prudent flexibility to absorb any impact from temporary interruptions to mole feed at CADI in the second quarter as we progress recovery efforts following the earthquake first quarter production was driven by several key factors. At Cadia 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 Marian production also increased compared to the fourth quarter as we begin to access higher grades from Marion to Pit as planned. At a half zero south production increased due to higher mining rise and improved underground draw point availability. At Yanacocha we delivered stronger leach production performance from high grades out of Catcher Main 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, Minasquito 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 Ahafone north continues to progress very well and 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 Tanami 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 organisation and with a broader industry. At Cadia, both PC23 and PC12 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 stabilise 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.
Peter Wexler (Interim Chief Financial Officer and Chief Legal Officer)
Thank you Natasha and hello everyone. Newmont delivered outstanding financial results in the first quarter driven by strong operational performance that Natasha just outlined and the supportive metal price environment. Our continued focus on disciplined execution resulted in adjusted EBITDA of $5.2 billion in adjusted net income of $2.90 per diluted share for the quarter. But most notably, Newmont generated $3.8 billion in cash flow from operations after working capital and a record $3.1 billion of free cash flow even after making approximately $1.3 billion in cash tax payments during the quarter. Gold all in sustaining costs were below our full year guidance at 1,029 dollars for the first quarter. On a byproduct basis, our cost profile benefited meaningfully from stronger than expected co product pricing and sales volumes, lower cost applicable to sales as a result of disciplined capital spending and the timing of sustaining capital. As Natasha noted earlier, we are maintaining our cost guidance and while higher oil prices may create incremental pressure, we view this as manageable at this time and are actively working to mitigate the impact rather than viewing it as a risk to our operating plan. And as a reminder, the guidance we provided in February was based on a $70 per barrel Brent assumption with diesel making up approximately 6% of our direct operating cost for every $10 per barrel change in oil prices we we expect approximate $60 million impact on cost which equates to roughly a $12 per ounce impact on all in sustaining costs. We are not currently experiencing any disruption to fuel availability and continue to maintain business continuity by leveraging our scale and strong supply chain team which is working closely with suppliers to proactively identify and manage risks. While higher fuel prices began to materialize in March, we remain focused on offsetting these pressures through continued cost and productivity improvements across our operations. In addition, in February we quantified the potential annual impact of the newly introduced Ghana Sliding Scale Royalty on our cost profile. While this will represent an incremental cost headwind of approximately $25 per ounce in 2026, our goal is to mitigate the impact through disciplined cost management and productivity initiatives. Looking ahead to the second quarter, we expect production to be slightly below the first quarter, …
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