Commenting on the company’s strategic initiatives, newly appointed CEO Richard O’Brien said, “With the elimination of our gold hedge book, we have renewed our commitment to maximizing gold price leverage for our shareholders. In addition, we are focused on delivering improvements in our operating performance and cost structure going forward. We intend to realize the value from a significant portion of our non-core, Merchant Banking portfolio and use the proceeds to fund the development and growth of our core gold business.”

During June 2007, Newmont said it spent $578 million to eliminate its entire portfolio of price-capped forward sales contracts, and said it would report a pre-tax loss of approximately $531 million on the early settlement of these contracts, after a $47-million reversal of previously recognized deferred revenue.

In addition, as a result of the decision to discontinue its Merchant Banking Segment and monetize components of its equity and royalty portfolio, the carrying value of the Merchant Banking Segment goodwill was impaired as of June 30, 2007. Consequently, Newmont expected to incur a non-cash impairment charge of approximately $1.7 billion, to be recorded as part of discontinued operations, in the second quarter of 2007.

The company said it has engaged financial and legal advisors to evaluate alternatives to maximize the realized value of the discontinued Merchant Banking portfolio. Potential alternatives include, among others, a public offering and/or private sale transactions.