Newmont has reached a profit-sharing agreement with its represented workforce at the Company’s Penasquito mine in Zacatecas, Mexico. The agreement supports the continued operation of Penasquito into the future.
Consistent with other agreements across Mexico, Newmont Peñasquito will pay its represented workforce an uncapped profit-sharing bonus up to 10 per cent, with an immediate cost equivalent of $70 million, which is representative of the payments related to 2021 results.
Newmont President and CEO Tom Palmer, said:
“We are pleased to have reached this agreement with the National Union of Mining, Metallurgical, Iron and Steel and similar Workers of the Mexican Republic.
“Through a respectful dialogue and the active participation of union leadership including Senator Napoléon Gómez Urrutia, we reached this agreement without interruption to the operation, ensuring a lasting relationship for the future of Penasquito.”
Tom Palmer
The Greenwood Village, Colorado-based miner spent last year building a pipeline of new exploration targets at Peñasquito, where just 20 per cent of the 650km2 property has been drilled.
The mineralization at Penasquito contains gold, silver, lead and zinc. Deposits currently mined within the Penasquito operations are considered to be examples of breccia pipes developed as a result of intrusion-related hydrothermal activity.
Penasquito’s Performance Over the Years
The gold miner expects to extend the operation’s productive life beyond 2040. Peñasquito, located in Mexico’s Zacatecas state, is forecast to produce 475,000 ounces of gold this year.
Penasquito produced 686,000 ounces of gold and 1,089,000 gold equivalent ounces of other metals in 2021. Penasquito recorded 6.3 million ounces of gold reserves in 2021 and 426 million silver reserves. Currently, it is the world’s fifth largest silver mine and Mexico’s second biggest.
In 2018, Penasquito produced 272,000 ounces of gold, and the mine directly employs more than 6,500 people while supporting another 20,000 indirect jobs in the region. Since 2005, Newmont Goldcorp. has invested approximately US$5 billion in Penasquito, including US$420 million in the Pyrite Leach Plant in 2017-2018.
Over the years, Penasquito has enhanced water availability to neighboring communities through a number of projects including water treatment plants, new wells, pipelines and water trucks, along with 90 other infrastructure and community development projects.
In 2020, Penasquito reached a definitive agreement with the San Juan de Cedros community (one of 25 neighboring communities) in Zacatecas, Mexico on land use, water availability, infrastructure and social investments.
This included access to more than 10,000 hectares of the Cedros ejido’s land for exploration, mineral production and other operational purposes, and resolves all outstanding disputes between the two parties. The agreement expressly states that any future disputes will be resolved through dialogue and free of blockades.
Penasquito is a world-class asset with over 8 million ounces of gold Reserves and approximately 26 million ounces in gold equivalent ounce Reserves, and the significant exploration potential in this prospective district may allow the Company to extend value delivery for decades to come.
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