(Kitco News) - The world’s biggest gold producer continues to improve its balance sheet as it offloads non-core assets.
On Monday, Newmont announced that it has agreed to sell its Éléonore operation in Northern Quebec, Canada, to Dhilmar Ltd. (“Dhilmar”) for $795 million in cash.
Dhilmar is a newly incorporated UK-based private mining company. It is led by its CEO and Managing Director, Alexander Ramlie, and supported by board members with decades of mining experience across a range of commodities and both surface and underground operations.
The Éléonore mine was a key operation for Goldcorp, which Newmont acquired in mid-2019. The underground mine produces approximately 246,000 attributable gold ounces annually. The company said the transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2025, subject to certain conditions.
“Today’s announcement is another step forward in Newmont’s journey to create a go-forward portfolio of Tier 1 gold and copper assets, each with the scale and mine life to generate strong free cash flows for several decades,” said Tom Palmer, Newmont's President and Chief Executive Officer. “When we announced the acquisition of Newcrest in 2023, we committed to generating at least $2 billion in cash through portfolio optimization. With this announced sale, we have meaningfully exceeded our target by more than $1.5 billion to date. Proceeds from this transaction will support Newmont’s comprehensive approach to capital allocation, which includes strengthening our investment-grade balance sheet and returning capital to shareholders.”
To date, Newmont has raised about $3.6 billion from its divestiture program. This includes $3.1 billion from non-core divestitures and $527 million from the sale of other investments.
