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Newmont Corporation - Material outperformance begets material upgrade

Newmont’s financial results for Q221 materially exceeded our expectations for the third quarter in succession, driven by a 3.8% (or US$111m) positive variance in revenues (of which 2.4% could be attributed to the gold price) and a 2.8% (US$61m) further positive variance in the form of lower costs. Of the 12 mines over which Newmont exerts management control, four outperformed (financially) relative to our prior expectations, two performed in line and six underperformed, although not, on occasion, without commendable management efforts to mitigate negative outcomes in the face of unscheduled challenges (eg the need to put Tanami into care and maintenance for two weeks, at short notice, after a case of COVID-19 was detected there). In the wake of its results, coupled with increases to our estimates for Q3 and Q420, we have upgraded our forecasts for adjusted net EPS for Newmont for FY21 by 18.4%.