Newmont to rollout driverless trucks at Boddington gold mine
Gold major Newmont has flagged the rollout of driverless trucks at a massive WA mine.
Global gold major Newmont is set to join the automation rush, flagging the rollout of driverless trucks at its massive Boddington gold mine in WA, as the company posted a profit drop as it digests its megamerger with Goldcorp.
Newmont’s US-traded stock fell 2.7 per cent to $US38.25 yesterday on the back of its second quarter report, its first since closing its $US10 billion merger with Goldcorp.
The company posted a big drop in second quarter profit on the back of costs arising from integrating Goldcorp’s assets with its own, with adjusted net income down 36 per cent to $US92 million for the period.
Incoming chief executive Tom Palmer, who will take over as Newmont boss from Gary Goldberg in October, told analysts the company expected it would take two to three years before the six mines acquired through its Goldcorp merger were operating to Newmont’s satisfaction.
“If you look back over Newmont over the last six or seven years, and at Boddington or at Tanami back in 2012 or 2013 to where it is today, there’s a good two, three years of work to get those operations set up for sustainable long-term value delivery,” he said.
Those Australian asset delivered a solid quarter for Newmont in the June period, with Boddington producing 185,000 ounces of gold, down slightly compared to the 197,000 ounces produced in the June quarter last year, production at Tanami up 14,000 ounces to 116,000 ounces and Newmont’s half of the Kalgoorlie Super Pit — still recovering from a pit wall slippage — delivering the company 58,000 ounces.
Tanami, in particular, delivered a strong quarter, with all-in-sustaining costs falling sharply, from $US936/oz to $US744/oz in the period.
Mr Palmer told analysts Newmont was on track to make a decision on a major expansion at the mine later this year.
The incoming Newmont boss also flagged a major investment in WA’s Boddington mine, saying the company expected to make a decision on the full conversion of its trucking fleet to driverless vehicles by the end of the year.
“If approved, the project is expected to improve cost and mining productivity, by converting the fleet of 39 haul trucks to autonomous operation,” he said.
Newmont said its expects its enlarged operations to produce 6.6 million ounces of gold this year, with Australia tipped to contribute 1.46 million of that total.
AISC across the group is expected to be $US975/oz, with Australia remaining one of Newmont’s lower cost jurisdictions, with average AISC of $US940/oz.