Newmont (NYSE:NEM) reported first-quarter financial results on Thursday. The transcript from the company's first-quarter earnings call has been provided below.

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Summary

Newmont Corporation reported strong financial results for Q1 2026 with $3.8 billion in cash flow from operations and $3.1 billion in free cash flow, achieving record levels despite typical seasonal working capital headwinds.

The company announced a new $6 billion share repurchase authorization, continuing its strategy of returning capital to shareholders through dividends and buybacks.

Operational challenges included an earthquake at Cadia, but recovery efforts are underway with a return to 80% capacity expected soon; overall, production for Q1 included 1.3 million ounces of gold, 30,000 tonnes of copper, and 9 million ounces of silver.

Management reaffirmed full-year guidance and cost projections, despite ongoing geopolitical and supply chain challenges, and expects second-quarter production to be slightly lower before rebounding.

Continued focus on cost management, productivity improvements, and strategic divestitures have positioned the company to maintain its capital allocation framework and shareholder return policy.

Full Transcript

OPERATOR

Hello and welcome to Newmont's first quarter 2026 results conference call. All participants will be in listen only mode. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to 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 Foljun, 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 Foljun (President and Chief Executive Officer)

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 unrivaled 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 go over 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 mill 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 Pro from the sale of equity investments in Solgold and Greatland Resources along with contingent payments related to the divestments of Musselwhite and Cripple Creek and Victor 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 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 Brewster and record levels of rainfall at Tanami. This performance underscores the strength and resilience of our world class portfolio built 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 but also capturing value from it. Giving this strong start to the year, we believe it is appropriate to maintain our existing production weighting. Our first quarter outperformance provides prudent flexibility to absorb any impact from temporary interruptions to more feed at KDI 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 favorable grades from the current panel cave at Merian production also increased compared to the fourth quarter as we begin to access higher grades from Merian open pit as planned. At Ahofo south production increased due to higher mining rates and improved underground draw point availability. At Yanacocha we delivered stronger leach production performance from high grades out of Catcher, Maine 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 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 a half owned north continues to progress very well and in line with the plan. 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 Tanamai 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 PC2.3 and BC12 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 Peter, 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 which resulted in adjusted EBITDA of $5.2 billion, an 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 per ounce 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 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 on 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 of disciplined cost management and productivity initiatives. Looking ahead to the second quarter, we expect production to be slightly below the first quarter, keeping us on track to deliver our full year Production guidance of 5.3 million ounces sustaining capital is expected to increase in the second quarter as we move into the summer season at Brucejack and Redcris, take delivery of mobile equipment at multiple sites and continue progressing tailings work primarily at Cadia and Boddington. Similarly, development capital is expected to increase beginning in the second quarter as we progress the expansion at Sierra Sierra Negro, advance the feasibility study work at Redcris, and begin spending on the Lahir Nearshore Barrier Project later this year with our full year guidance of $1.4 billion remaining weighted to the second half. All in sustaining costs are expected to be notably higher in the second quarter and more in line with the guidance we provided in February driven by the ramp up in sustaining capital, higher cost applicable to sales and lower silver production than we saw in the first quarter as planned. Turning to capital allocation last quarter we introduced our enhanced capital allocation framework which is underpinned by net cash from operations and prioritizes cash flow in a clear and disciplined manner. This framework is designed to be sustainable through the cycle, maximize shareholder returns and maintain a strong and flexible balance sheet, and we are already seeing the positive benefits of this framework in action through our first quarter results. Within this framework, excess cash is first allocated to sustaining capital spend and our dividend priorities that are intended to remain consistent through the cycle. We continue to invest in sustaining capital to strengthen the longevity and integrity of our portfolio with $381 million spent in the first quarter. Next, cash is allocated to our sustainable total cash dividend of $1.1 billion per year, which is paid quarterly. In the first quarter, we declared a dividend of 26 cents per share, which is consistent with the with the last quarter and aligned with this approach. Following these commitments, our development capital spend and balance sheet position may flex over time to reflect portfolio needs and broader market conditions. We continue to invest in development capital to advance our highest return opportunities from our deep organic pipeline with $239 million deployed in the first quarter. At the same time. We remain committed to maintaining a resilient balance sheet anchored by our net cash target of $1 billion plus or minus $2 billion over the course of a year. The target is managed on an annual basis and may vary quarter to quarter due to macroeconomic conditions, including the recent volatility in gold price. Once these priorities are met, excess cash is allocated to share repurchases. Since our last earnings call, we have repurchased $2.4 billion in shares, fully completing our previous authorization and bringing the total repurchases to $6 billion since we began repurchasing shares over 24 months ago. As a result, our Board has doubled the size of our share repurchase program, which with an additional $6 billion authorization representing our fourth authorization since February 2024. We intend to execute this program consistently in line with our capital allocation framework, reflecting our confidence in the intrinsic value of our shares and benefits of these repurchases and the benefits these repurchases deliver over time. As we approach completion of this authorization, we expect to seek additional approval from our Board, consistent with our disciplined and repeatable approach to returning excess cash to shareholders. Both our share repurchase program and the resulting per share dividend growth are formulaic outputs of our capital allocation framework, with repurchases systematically reducing our share count, driving higher per share metrics and increasing shareholder exposure to the free through the strong free cash flow generated by our portfolio. In fact, on a per share basis, our free cash flow is already 6% higher than it would have been prior to initiating our share repurchase program. At its core, this framework is designed to deliver sustained per share growth, maintain balance sheet strength, and provide shareholders with consistent and growing exposure to the value generated by our world class portfolio. With that, I'll turn the call back over to Natasha for closing remarks.

Natasha Foljun (President and Chief Executive Officer)

Thank you, Peter. In closing, Newmont has had a very strong start to this year, reflecting the deliberate progress we have made to strengthen our operations and enhance the capabilities of our teams and systems. Driven by disciplined execution and a clear focus on our commitments, we remain on track to achieve our 2026 guidance supported by solid operational and financial performance in the first quarter, and are well positioned to drive margin expansion and generate strong free cash flow through continued cost discipline and productivity improvements across our world class portfolio, which continues to deliver stable and consistent results. Our enhanced capital allocation framework is translating that performance into shareholder returns, predictable dividend and ongoing share repurchases supported by a new $6 billion authorization. Looking ahead, we'll continue to leverage our industry Leading portfolio and deep bench strength of expertise across all functions to build a stable and resilient future for Newmont, positioning us to generate growing free cash flow and deliver increasing returns on a per share basis, even in a dynamic macroeconomic environment. Before turning to questions, I want to briefly address that we continue to engage constructively with our Nevada Gold Mines joint venture partner with a clear focus on improving the performance of our shared assets and delivering long term value for Neomont shareholders. With that, we look forward to addressing your questions and I will now hand it back to Christine, our operator to open the call for questions.

OPERATOR

We will now begin the question and answer session. We ask that you please limit inquiries to one primary question and one follow up question. If you would like to ask a question, please press star then one to raise your hand. If you are using a speakerphone, please pick up your handset before pressing the keys. To withdraw your question, press star then won again. At this time we will pause to assemble our roster. Our first question comes from Tanya Yasenek with Scotiabank. Tanya, your line is open.

Tanya Yasenek (Equity Analyst)

Great. Can you hear me? Yes, please. We can, Tanya. Okay, great. Thank you. Thank you for taking my question. Natasha, can you comment on where we are on the whole process with the default that was issued on February of this year with respect to Nevada Gold Mine?

Natasha Foljun (President and Chief Executive Officer)

Yeah. Thank you, Tania. Good question. I'll start and then I'll hand over to Peter to get into a little bit more detail, I think, Tania, for starters, as we said in our prepared remarks, our focus remained firstly on improving the Nevada Gold Mines joint venture performance. And then we are continuously working with our joint venture partner to gain more information around 4 mile and the work that we need to do there. And then for the notice of default, specifically I'll hand over to Peter Wechsler.

Peter Wexler (Interim Chief Financial Officer and Chief Legal Officer)

Thank you, Tanya, for the question. The period of the notice of default is open ended and we're working with them, as Natasha said earlier, to work on the operations and we work through an orderly process on the notice of default, including exercising our audit rights, reviewing those findings. So it's really just an ongoing process at this point in time.

Tanya Yasenek (Equity Analyst)

Okay, so my follow up question is that I'm just trying to understand how long this process is going to take. So I'm assuming that you had meetings with them, you've, you know, gotten the information or Barrick has handed over the information that you've asked for and now you're in the process of reviewing this and talking to Barrick on, you know, how we move forward. I'm just trying to understand the procedure and what to expect on a time.

Peter Wexler (Interim Chief Financial Officer and Chief Legal Officer)

Actually, while you may see timelines in the agreements, it's more of an iterative process between the two companies. So we have questions and follow-up questions on information and as you correctly assumed, they respond to us and we continue to work productively through those answers. There's no set timeline for bringing it to resolution, but we hope to do so in the near term and make sure that Nevada Gold Mines is operating at the highest level possible.

OPERATOR

Our next question comes from Matthew Murphy with BMO Markets. Matthew, your line is open.

Matthew Murphy (Equity Analyst)

Thank you. Congratulations on a strong first quarter. Can you take us through where operations were beating your expectations? And it sounds like Q2 may be a little bit down quarter on quarter. Should we think about Q2 as sort of the lowest production quarter for the business and then progressive sort of momentum from there?

Natasha Foljun (President and Chief Executive Officer)

Yes, Matthew, and thank you for that question. I think if we look at quarter one, the improved performance that we have seen was across firstly Yanacocha where we saw a beat after the last catcher main ore that we have mined that we see the benefit of that coming through. We have also seen improved throughput and grade from Cadia coming through and that was certainly the basis of that improvement. Then the silver production at Peñasquito higher than what we have delivered at any quarter last year and that's just a phasing on where we are in the pit and I think importantly also strongly supported by really high silver prices. We have also treated the last remind well the last remining stockpile from our Subika open pit material at a half hour south and we started to see Ahafo North obviously continuing well with its production ramp up as we look into the second quarter and we've depleted the Subikar open pit stocks at Oahfo South. We do see lower grades coming from a Apensu and a Awonsu open pits for Peñasquito in this quarter we will have some months that we are treating organic carbon and therefore we will also see lower silver production. And then of course as we've touched on earlier, we will see the recovery process that we are working through at Cadia. So therefore a slightly lower quarter as expected and we'll see that we'll see the third quarter coming back stronger.

Matthew Murphy (Equity Analyst)

Okay, and as a second question, slightly different topic but related to the CFO recruitment process. Peter, certainly Newmont's delivering results with you and the CFO chair, but there is the interim in the title. So Natasha, any update on how that recruitment process is going?

Natasha Foljun (President and Chief Executive Officer)

That recruitment process is going well. Matthew. And we trust that we'll be able to share more information soon.

Matthew Murphy (Equity Analyst)

Okay, thank you.

OPERATOR

Our next question comes from Anita Soni with cibc. Anita, you are live.

Anita Soni (Equity Analyst)

Hi. Thanks for taking my question, Natasha. I just wanted to ask, when it comes to the discussions around 4 mile, have you had any discussions with Barrick on bringing that into the. Into the joint venture partnership at this

Natasha Foljun (President and Chief Executive Officer)

stage, Anita, we continue to collect information on formal and to do our technical evaluation as I think as we've touched on before.

Anita Soni (Equity Analyst)

Okay, sorry I missed that. And then just in terms of the. Some of the mine sequencing, I think you touched upon the stockpile processing that you would be doing at Cadia. Can you give us an indication, I guess stockpile to, you know, to bridge the gap between pulling ore from the underground. But could you give us an indication of what grade those stockpiles are at right now?

Natasha Foljun (President and Chief Executive Officer)

Anita will have to come back to you. I can't. Can't give you an indication, but I'll ask Neil to just give you the feedback on the grade.

Anita Soni (Equity Analyst)

Okay. All right, thank you. That's it for my question.

Natasha Foljun (President and Chief Executive Officer)

Thanks, Anita.

OPERATOR

Our next question comes from Lawson Winder with Bank of America securities. Lawson, your line is open.

Lawson Winder (Equity Analyst)

Thank you, operator. Hello, Natasha and team. Nice quarterly result and thank you for today's update. Can I ask about the cost pressures? I mean, I think it's notable the impressive unit cost results in Q1 considering what have been relatively significant cost pressures on energy. Could you speak to some of the levers that Newmont can pull in order to ensure that input cost inflation doesn't drive 20, 26 unit cost guidance above the range and then.

Disclaimer: This transcript is provided for informational purposes only. While we strive for accuracy, there may be errors or omissions in this automated transcription. For official company statements and financial information, please refer to the company's SEC filings and official press releases. Corporate participants' and analysts' statements reflect their views as of the date of this call and are subject to change without notice.