Newmont history

Montanan William Boyce Thompson created the Newmont (a combination of the words New York and Montana) Mining Corporation in 1921 as a publicly traded company to hold his various mining operations.

Beginning in 1925, Newmont acquired interests in a Texas oil field.

In 1929, Newmont became a mining company with its first gold product in by acquiring California's Empire Star Mine.

The Malozemoff family eventually landed in San Francisco, where Plato earned a degree in mining engineering at Berkeley in 1931.

1937-39 Acquires two historic lead, zinc and gold mines, and opens the O’okiep copper mine in South Africa, becoming a major source of supply to Allied Forces during World War II

By 1939, Newmont was operating 12 gold mines in North America.

Publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange since 1940, Newmont Mining Corporation has spent nearly 90 years primarily in the natural resources industry – mining gold, copper, silver, lead, zinc, lithium, uranium, coal, nickel and aggregates, even dabbling in oil and gas.

Fred Searls became president in 1947, after serving as the company's exploration geologist.

By 1950, Newmont was led by Fred Searls who, like Thompson, was a recognizable figure on Wall Street.

In 1951, John Drybrough, president of the Newmont Mining Corporation of Canada subsidiary, informed Newmont officials that a company run by his brother-in-law had discovered nickel deposits in Manitoba, as well as a new, more efficient method for processing the ore.

Searls retired in 1954, and Plato Malozemoff took over as president.

In 1955, a particularly active year, investments were also made in the Philippines, Canada, and Algeria.

In 1957, Empire Star Mines Company, Ltd., was merged into Newmont.

In 1959, $8.2 million of the company's $13 million dividend income came from foreign holdings, primarily the mines of Tsumeb and O'okiep.

1961-63 Newmont returned its focus to gold with the discovery of Nevada’s prolific Carlin Trend, beginning production on the world’s first open pit ‘submicroscopic’ gold mine which revolutionises the gold industry

Newmont took action to remedy this imbalance in 1962 by trading some of its own preferred stock for a large block of stock in Magma Copper.

Newmont began mining at Carlin, Nevada in 1965.

In 1966, 12 tons of overburden had to be removed and 3 tons of ore milled to retrieve an ounce of gold at Carlin.

1967-69 Acquires stake in Foote Mineral Company and completes buyout of Magma Copper

In 1969 Newmont merged completely with Magma Copper, of which it already owned 80.6 percent.

With earnings of over $26 million at the time of the merger, Magma was the fourth-largest domestic copper producer, and by 1970 about three-fourths of Newmont's revenue came from copper.

1971 Newmont utilises heap leaching technology on sub-mill grade ores at Carlin and celebrates 50th anniversary with revenues of $241mn

The expansion raised the combined output of San Manuel and Superior to 145,000 tons of copper in 1972.

In 1974, Newmont set a net earnings record of $113.6 million.

With copper prices in free-fall, however, Newmont's net income declined to $5.1 million in 1977, a drop in earnings also affected by a $15-million strike at Peabody and the closing of the Granduc mine.

Even the often sluggish Atlantic Cement Company showed a profit in 1978 after losing about $400,000 the previous year.

By 1979 gold was beginning to play an increasingly important role for Newmont.

1980-82 Gold Quarry is discovered at Carlin, Nevada.

In 1981, while Newmont was still assessing the importance of the Gold Quarry discovery, shares of Newmont were being acquired by Consolidated Gold Fields Plc. (CGF), a British mining company.

Newmont purchased the Miami, Arizona, copper operations of City Service Company in 1983.

Malozemoff ended his long tenure as Newmont's chief executive officer in September 1985 and was succeeded by Gordon R. Parker, who had been named company president ten months earlier as well as president and chief executive officer of Magma.

Carlin Gold Mining Company's name was changed to Newmont Gold Company in 1986.

At the end of 1987, the company sold its 80 percent interest in Foote Mineral for about $74 million.

In 1988, the company sold its interests in Newmont Oil and in both Canadian ventures, Sherritt Gordon and Similkameen.

American Barrick had acquired a 49 percent interest in Newmont in a deal the previous year with Hanson Plc., which had acquired the shares when it took over CGF in 1989.

With the 1990 sale of its 55 percent interest in Peabody, Newmont had shed virtually all of its non-gold holdings and was the largest gold producer in North America.

In 1991, NGC accounted for about $573 million of Newmont's $623 million total sales, mining 132 million tons of gold ore and selling 1.58 million ounces of gold.

1992 Development begins at Yanacocha in Peru, which becomes one of the largest and lowest cost gold mines in the world

1994 Ronald C. Cambre, a chemical engineer, becomes the first outsider to head Newmont

1998 Newmont Mining Corporation and Newmont Gold Company combine assets to form a unified worldwide gold company

On June 21, 2000, Newmont announced a merger with Battle Mountain Gold.

2002 Acquires Normandy Mining and Franco-Nevada Mining to become the world’s largest gold producer with annual production in excess of 8 million ounces

Newmont holds this position until 2006, when Barrick acquires Placer Dome.

Proud of its record of environmental stewardship and commitment to bringing a better standard of living to the communities in which it operates, Newmont takes a leadership role in sustainability and becomes the first gold company to be included in the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index in 2007.

2008 Acquires Miramar Mining and the Hope Bay deposit in the Canadian Arctic

In 2009, Newmont purchased the remaining one-third interest in Boddington Gold Mine from AngloGold Ashanti, bringing its ownership to 100 percent.

Newmont is ranked 16th on Corporate Responsibility Magazine’s 11th annual 100 Best Corporate Citizens List for 2010, joining respected businesses such as Hewlett-Packard, Intel, Coca-Cola, IBM and Microsoft in the List’s top 20.

In April 2011, the company acquired Canada's Fronteer Gold Inc. for Cdn $2.3 billion.

Between March and June of 2013 the price of gold falls by approximately $400 an ounce – Newmont launches its Full Potential program to affect a step-change in operational efficiency and productivity.

In 2017, Newmont produced 5.65 million ounces of gold at all-in sustaining costs of US$924 per ounce.

36th Overall, 2018 100 Best Corporate Citizens, Corporate Responsibility Magazine Top-ranked mining company for business conduct and environmental responsibility in the 2018 Responsible Mining Index in an evaluation of 30 of the world’s largest mining firms “A” rating in MSCI’s ESG Ratings

2019 Newmont combines with Goldcorp in $10bn deal to create the world’s leading gold company as measured by assets, prospects and people

Top mining company on FORTUNE’s 2020 list of the World’s Most Admired Companies