Newcrest Mining has decided against purchasing an extra five per cent stake in the Havieron joint venture project it shares with Greatland Gold.
An independent valuer determined that the additional five per cent stake in Havieron would have cost Newcrest $US60 million ($86.8 million).
The major gold miner already has a 70 per cent interest in Havieron as part of the four-stage earn-in agreement; however, it wanted to boost that to 75 per cent.
Havieron has been an exploration success story and continues to grow in stature. In July, Greatland Gold reported a $US1 billion increase in the project’s net-present value.
The Western Australia project is now worth $US1.2 billion as at December 2021. Two months prior, it was worth $US228 million, as per stage one of the Havieron pre-feasibility study (PFS).
Reporting its 2021–22 financial year (FY22) results, Newcrest’s profit slid from $US1.16 billion to $US872 million as the company was hit by rising costs and lower output at its Lihir (PNG) and Cadia (New South Wales) mines.
The major miner produced 1.96 million ounces of gold at an all-in sustaining cost (AISC) of $US1043 per ounce. A year earlier, it produced 2.09 million ounces of gold at an AISC of $US911 per ounce.
The major miner’s final dividend halved from $US0.40 in FY21 to $US0.20 in FY22, which it will pay to shareholders on September 29. Newcrest’s total dividend for FY22 was $US0.275, which included an interim dividend of $US0.75.
Newcrest managing director and chief executive officer Sandeep Biswas said Newcrest delivered a strong FY22 performance and was making good progress on its growth projects.
“We were particularly pleased with our costs trending lower in the second half of the year, with Cadia achieving its lowest ever annual all-in sustaining cost of negative $124 per ounce,” he said.
“Works have continued to advance across our global organic growth portfolio, with Cadia, Red Chris (Canada), Havieron and Lihir all expected to reach key study milestones throughout FY23.
“Our track record of exploration success has also continued at Brucejack (Canada), Red Chris and Havieron, with strong drilling results supporting our view of significant resource growth potential.”