Newmont Mining 2Q earnings edge up

GREENWOOD VILLAGE, Colo. (AP) ?€" Newmont Mining Corp. said Friday that its second-quarter profit rose slightly as higher gold and copper prices were

offset by increased costs and reduced production.

Its results missed Wall Street expectations, and its shares fell $1.61, or 2.8 percent, to $56.12 in midday trading.

The Greenwood Village, Colo., mining giant's net income totaled $387 million, or 77 cents a share, in the April-to-June quarter, compared with $382 million, or 77 cents a share, a year ago.

That included a $136 million loss related to an asset sale. Excluding one-time items, Newmont said it earned $445 million, or 90 cents a share.

Consolidated sales rose to $2.38 billion from $2.15 billion.

Analysts surveyed by FactSet expected higher earnings of $1.01 a share on higher sales of $2.5 billion.

Gold production fell 5.4 percent to 1.2 million ounces and copper production dropped 45 percent to 44 million pounds because lower quality of ore grades were processed at Newmont's Batu Hijau mine in Indonesia and its Nevada operations.

Newmont said it received an average price of $1,501 per ounce for gold compared with $1,200 an ounce in the second quarter of 2010. The average price for copper was $3.78 a pound, compared with $2.33 a pound.

The company reaffirmed its 2011 outlook of gold production in a range between 5.1 million ounces and 5.3 million ounces and copper production between 190 million pounds and 220 million pounds.

Authors: mining - Yahoo! News Search Results