The story
Founded by William Boyce Thompson in 1916.1
Early years
The Newmont Company was founded in 1916 in New York by Colonel William Boyce Thompson as a holding company to invest in worldwide mineral, oil, and related companies. According to company lore, the name "Newmont" is a portmanteau "New York" and "Montana", reflecting where Thompson made his fortune and where he grew up. Newmont made its first major gold investment in 1917, with a founding 25 percent in the Anglo American Corporation of South Africa. Four years later, in 1921, the Newmont Company reincorporated as the Newmont Corporation.
In 1929, Newmont became a mining company with its first gold product by acquiring California's Empire Star Mine. By 1939, Newmont was operating 12 gold mines in North America. The company acquired interests overseas. For decades around the middle of the 20th century, Newmont had a controlling interest in the Tsumeb mine in Namibia and in the O'Okiep Copper Company in Namaqualand, South Africa. Beginning in 1925, Newmont acquired interests in a Texas oil field. Eventually, Newmont's oil interests included more than 70 blocks in the Louisiana, Gulf of Mexico area and oil and gas production in the North Sea. Fred Searls became president in 1947, after serving as the company's exploration geologist. Searls retired in 1954, and Plato Malozemoff took over as president.
Newmont began mining at Carlin, Nevada, in 1965. The "Carlin Trend" or "Carlin Unconformity" is the largest gold discovery in North America during the 20th century. In 1971 Newmont began heap leaching low grade ores there. In 1971, the South-West African (now Namibia) Tsumeb & Kombat mines managed by Newmont, had its operations stopped during the 1971–72 Namibian contract workers strike over the contract labor system and apartheid.
Major growth
In the 1980s, Newmont thwarted five takeover bids – from Consolidated Gold Fields (ConsGold), T. Boone Pickens, Minorco, Hanson Industries and James Goldsmith – who sought to break Newmont apart and sell its assets in an attempt to increase shareholder value. In 1987, defending against a $6.3 billion bid by T. Boone Pickens, the company paid a US$33 per share special dividend to all shareholders, US$2.2 billion in cash, of which US$1.75 billion was borrowed. To reduce this debt the company undertook a divestment program involving all of its copper, oil, gas, and coal interests.
As a further step in the restructuring, the company moved its headquarters from New York City to Denver in 1988. A decade later, Newmont Mining Corporation and Newmont Gold Company combined assets to form a unified worldwide gold company. Shareholders of both companies had identical interests in the reserves, production and earnings of Newmont Gold's operations. Newmont then merged with Santa Fe Railroad (a former Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway subsidiary, sold in preparation for the merger that produced the BNSF) to form North America's largest gold producer.
On June 21, 2000, Newmont announced a merger with Battle Mountain Gold. The merger was completed in January 2001. In February 2002, Newmont completed the acquisition of Normandy Mining and Franco-Nevada. Newmont faced competition in its bid for Normandy from AngloGold. By eventually outbidding the South African company, Newmont became the world's largest gold producer, with an annual production in excess of 8 million ounces.
In 2007, the company eliminated its 1.5 million ounce legacy hedge book to make Newmont the world's largest unhedged gold producer. The following year, Newmont acquired Miramar Mining Corporation and its Hope Bay deposit in the Canadian Arctic.
In 2009, Newmont purchased the remaining one-third interest in Boddington Gold Mine from AngloGold Ashanti, bringing its ownership to 100 percent. In April 2011, the company acquired Canada's Fronteer Gold Inc. for CA$2.3 billion. This made the company the world's second-largest gold producer. In 2017, Newmont produced 5.65 million ounces of gold at all-in sustaining costs of US$924 per ounce. The company reported adjusted net income of $780 million for the year, and further reduced net debt down to US$0.8 billion. In 2019, it acquired Canada's Goldcorp for $10 billion. In May 2023, Newmont agreed terms to purchase Newcrest. The deal was completed in November 2023.
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Recent Developments (2025)
In 2025, Newmont completed the integration of Newcrest Mining following its US$17 billion acquisition finalized in 2024, creating one of the largest gold and copper producers globally. As part of a portfolio optimization strategy, the company completed a non-core asset divestiture program announced in 2024, generating up to US$4.3 billion in gross proceeds through the sale of operations including Musselwhite, Éléonore, Cripple Creek & Victor, Akyem, and Porcupine. Operationally, Newmont achieved commercial production at its Ahafo North project in Ghana in October 2025, following a first gold pour in September. Financially, the company reported record free cash flow of US$1.6 billion in the third quarter of 2025, its fourth consecutive quarter above US$1 billion, alongside revenue of US$5.52 billion and net income of US$1.84 billion.
In December 2025, Chief Executive Officer Tom Palmer announced his retirement, with Natascha Viljoen appointed as his successor effective January 2026, becoming the company’s first female CEO. The company also advanced its sustainability goals, investing US$500 million in environmental, social, and governance programs and reporting progress toward its 2050 net-zero target, including reductions in carbon emissions and expanded water stewardship initiatives.
From Wikipedia’s article on Newmont, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.7