Denver – Newmont Mining Corp., one of the world’s leading gold producers, today said third-quarter profit climbed 57 percent as higher gold prices helped offset weaker sales volume.
Net income rose to $198 million, or 44 cents per share, from $126 million, or 28 cents per share, in the year-earlier quarter.
The recent quarter included one-time gains totaling 6 cents per share, the company said.
“Our results reflect continuing earnings growth and our leverage to the gold price,” said Wayne W. Murdy, chairman and chief executive officer. “Year-to-date earnings grew over 100 percent from the prior year, while gold prices rose approximately 40 percent for the same period.” Year to date, net income was $568 million, or $1.26 a share, compared with $260 million and 58 cents a share during the same period a year ago.
For the third quarter, income from continuing operations rose to $264 million, or 59 cents per share, from $125 million, or 28 cents per share, a year earlier.
Revenue dipped to $1.10 billion from $1.15 billion a year ago.
Gold sales grew to $1.01 billion from $914 million, but copper sales declined to $93 million from $231 million at the same time.
Newmont sold considerably less gold by volume, which dropped to 1.7 million ounces from 2.1 million ounces. However, the company’s average realized gold price ballooned to $615 an ounce from $435 an ounce.
Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected Newmont to earn 43 cents per share on $1.31 billion in sales.
Income from continuing operations for the first nine months was $625 million, or $1.39 a share, compared with $291 million and 65 cents a share a year earlier.
Year-to-date revenue was $3.5 billion, up from $3.1 billion during the same period last year.
Newmont shares were up $1.05 or 2.3 percent to $46.32 in midday trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
