Newcrest Mining

Newmont Mining Corporation was founded in 1921 in New York by Colonel William Thompson as a holding company to invest in worldwide mineral, oil, and relations companies. The Newmont name is an abbreviation of where Thompson lived and worked: New York and Montana. Newmont is now the world's second-largest gold producer. Newmont began an Australian subsidiary in 1966 and by 1971 they claimed to have discovered Telfer.

In 1980 the subsidiary became Newmont Holdings Pty Ltd and was based in Victoria, Australia. Seven years later it was listed on the Australian Stock Exchange as Newmont Australia Limited. When in 1990 the company acquired 100% of Australmin Holdings Ltd and 92% of BHP Gold Mines Ltd, it acquired its current company name.

Newcrest's primary focus was within Australia until 1991, when it commenced exploration overseas. Newcrest was determined to become a significant and internationally recognised gold mining and exploration company. The company established exploration offices and new companies offshore in Jakarta, Indonesia, and Chile, South America.

In 1992, exploration discovered its first offshore gold in the Halmahera Islands, Indonesia. And in 1996, Newcrest stated that the company wished to transform itself into a world-scale and internationally recognised producer. In 2002, years of exploration around Australia and overseas were paying dividends and the Newcrest group was capitalised at over $2 billion.

After restarting gold mining activities in Cracow, Queensland, in a 70:30 joint venture with Sedimentary Holdings in 2004, Newcrest sold its shares in this operation when Catalpa Resources, which had meanwhile acquired Sedimentary Holdings, merged with Conquest Mining in 2011 to form Evolution Mining.

In addition to its primary listing on the Australian Securities Exchange, Newcrest Mining stock was also traded on the Port Moresby Stock Exchange in Papua New Guinea (since 2010) and the Toronto Stock Exchange in Canada (2012–14 and since 2020).

Newcrest's mining operations are located around Australia, Canada and Papua New Guinea.

The Telfer Mine is a large open-cut and underground mine in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. The mine has the potential to become the largest gold mine in Australia, with expected average production of 800,000 ounces (23,000 kg) of gold per year.

Ridgeway is a large underground gold and copper mine being developed by Newcrest. In its first full year of operation and metal production of 377,539 ounces (10,703.1 kg) of gold was in line with the plan. Development of the Cadia Hill mine in New South Wales began in 1996 and production began in 1998. It produces 298,848 ounces (8,472.2 kg) of gold per year.

Hidden Valley is an open-pit, gold-silver mine and processing plant in Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea. The mine is approximately 210 km north-north-west of Port Moresby, and 90 km south-south-west of Lae. It is operated by Morobe Mining Joint Ventures, a 50:50 joint venture between Harmony and Newcrest Mining.

Criticism

The company has been accused of human rights violations and accelerating environmental damage particularly on Halmahera Island in Indonesia.