Mining company posts gain for fourth quarter of 2012

Newmont Mining Corp.’s financial fortunes changed significantly in the fourth quarter.

Officials from the company, Nevada’s second-largest gold miner, told investors Friday that it earned net income of $673 million during the three months that ended Dec. 31, compared with a loss of more than $1 billion in the fourth quarter of 2011. The big shift came from substantially smaller write-downs of properties, plants and mine development. Newmont wrote down $58 million in the most recent quarter, compared with $2.1 billion in the fourth quarter of 2011.

Revenue came in at $2.5 billion, down from $2.8 billion in the fourth quarter of 2011, as the company posted lower gold and copper sales year over year in the quarter.

Adjusted to remove onetime expenses such as write-downs, Newmont’s net income in the quarter was $552 million, or $1.11 a share, down from $577 million, or $1.14 a share, a year earlier.

In Nevada, quarterly gold production was down 8 percent year to year to 478,000 ounces, based on lower tons and grades of ore at its Leeville mine in Elko County. The company produced 1.7 million ounces in Nevada in 2012, unchanged from 2011.

Company shares rose 27 cents, or 0.67 percent, Friday to close at $40.82 a share on the New York Stock Exchange..

Contact reporter Jennifer Robison at jrobison@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4512. Follow @J_Robison1 on Twitter.