At a recent mining industry conference held in Perth, Australia, Newmont Asia Pacific Acting Regional Vice President and Regional Group Executive Operations Philip Stephenson, said the project, 130 km southeast of Perth, was currently 89% complete.

“The Boddington start-up will be the biggest thing for Newmont in 2009,” Stephenson said. “We are targeting annual production of 1 million ounces for each of Boddington’s first five years. When it is in full production, Boddington will be the largest gold mine in Australia.

“The mine’s costs applicable to sales will be around $300 an ounce and that puts Boddington into the bottom quartile of the global cost curve. Strategically for Newmont, Boddington coming on line will improve Newmont’s overall global geopolitical risk profile as it delivers greater exposure to an AAA-rated country,” said Stephenson.

Boddington has a projected mine life of 20 plus years. It has current total reserves of 20 million oz and rising. “Boddington has the largest reserve base of all gold projects in production or about to go into production in A-rated countries or better, and will be an important asset for many years to come,” Stephenson said.

In January, Newmont announced that it will acquire the remaining 33% share of Boddington from Anglo Gold Ashanti. When the deal closes, Boddington will be wholly Newmont-owned and operated. Stephenson described the deal as “an asset acquired at a very good price.”

Newmont also recently released the results of an independent, 18-month global review of the company’s ability to manage relationships with local communities. The 164-page “Community Relationships Review” (CRR) was initiated by an April 2007 resolution sponsored by Christian Brothers Investment Services, Inc. and 10 other faith-based investors calling for an independent “global review and evaluation of the company’s policies and practices relating to existing and potential opposition from local communities and to our company’s operations and the steps taken to reduce such opposition.” Newmont directors and management recommended the resolution to Newmont shareholders, and the shareholders supported the resolution by a vote of nearly 92%.

The CRR process involved interviews with more than 250 local community members, non-governmental organizations and other external stakeholders in five countries; interviews with more than 100 company personnel at the site, regional and corporate levels; examination of company policies, standards, procedures and training programs; detailed analyses of Newmont sites, including Ahafo (Ghana), Yanacocha (Peru), Martha (New Zealand), Carlin (Nevada) and Batu Hijau and Minahasa (Indonesia); and country-level analyses of relationships and contexts.

The CRR credits Newmont with having strong policies and standards in place; however, it identifies areas for improvement, including enhancing consistency of engagement with local communities, building capacity to manage and resolve conflict and address grievances, and developing consistent global policies, standards, and programs to better guide the company’s actions.

Newmont President and CEO Richard O’Brien said, “Successful execution of the CRR’s lessons will help Newmont become an industry leader, while ensuring that we continue to create sustainable value and opportunity for our shareholders, employees, and host communities. I am personally committed to following through on the CRR so that we and all of our stakeholders benefit from its insight and recommendations.”

The Newmont CCR and supporting documents are available for downloading at www.newmont.com.