Global gold miner Newmont Mining, the world's no. 2 producer, is counting on expansion of its Asia operations to replace lost ounces due to maturing operations elsewhere, and is targeting overall output growth of nearly 40 percent, a company official said on Monday.
Jeff Huspeni, senior vice president for Newmont's Asia-Pacific region, said the development of new lodes over the next several years in Australia, New Zealand and Indonesia was integral to reaching an internal production target of 6 million to 7 million ounces by 2017, up from 5.185 million in 2012.
Huspeni said recent moves by governments in Australia and Indonesia to step up regulations on mining companies were not proving a deterrent to boosting operations there. "Globally, we are going to lose about 300,000 ounces over the next five or six years," Huspeni said on the side of the Diggers and Dealers mine conference. "That replacement will come from Australia, New Zealand and Indonesia," he said.
Indonesia in May imposed a 20 percent duty on ore exports and asked all miners to submit plans to build smelters to add value to the country's mining sector ahead of a 2014 ban on raw mineral exports. A carbon tax based on greenhouse gas emissions in Australia, introduced on July 1, 2012, was adding between $28 and $40 per ounce at Newmont's Boddington mine in the country's far west, said Huspeni, adding that the mine was on track to produce around 800,000 ounces of gold annually at its peak. Global gold miners are under pressure to cut costs of mining by digging up more gold, as operating costs in high-producing countries such as Australia skyrocket, taking much of the shine off robust bullion prices of around $1,600 an ounce.