Newmont ... Continued from page 27 Small Mine Development finished mining there at the end of last year. Bates said the biggest things for the surface operations north of Carlin in 2011 were completion of the remediation of the pit slide area at Gold Quarry, resumption of mining at Gold Quarry, mining in the North Area and “prep work for the bigger star projects.” Later expansion at Gold Quarry for phases 8-10 will require an environmental impact study, Bates said, but no plan of operations has been filed with the BLM yet. Gold production All of Newmont’s Nevada operations combined, surface and underground, produced 1.741 million ounces of gold in 2011 at a cost of $603 per ounce, according to Newmont’s production report. The Nevada mines produced 1.735 million ounces in 2010. Newmont forecasts that Nevada mines will produce between 1.725 million ounces and 1.8 million ounces of gold this
year at a cost of $575 to $625 per ounce. Companywide, gold production totaled 5.2 million ounces in 2011, and the forecast for gold production this year is 5 million to 5.2 million ounces, stated Newmont. Newmont stated it used a gold price of $1,500 an ounce and a copper price of $3.50 per pound, along with an oil price of $90 a barrel, for the 2012 forecasts. The Colorado-based company’s forecast for copper production this year shows a downturn to between 150 million and 170 million pounds, compared with full-year production of 206 million pounds in 2011. “Copper production is expected to decline in 2012 largely as a result of Batu Hijau entering the stripping campaign (removing waste layers) in order to access the next layer of ore,” said Newmont spokesman Omar Jabara. “This has always been part of the mine plan for Batu Hijau. “Also, copper production was higher than expected in 2011 at Batu Hijau due to the delay in the onset of the rainy season, allowing us extended access to the ore in the bottom of the pit,” he said.
28 MINING QUARTERLY, Elko, Nevada SPRING 2012
Adella Harding/Mining Quarterly
A Pit Viper blast-hole drill rig operates at Newmont Mining Corp.’s Carlin Pit, where the East Carlin layback is under way.