Valcambi loses deal to refine Newmont's gold - sources

Rajesh Exports

10/04/2019 09:39

By Peter Hobson
    LONDON, April 10 (Reuters) - Swiss gold refiner Valcambi has
lost a contract to refine around 4 million ounces of gold a year
from Newmont Mining Corp  NEM.N , one of the world's biggest
producers, five sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. 
    U.S.-based Newmont put the contract up for tender last year
and has split the business between three of Valcambi's rivals -
Asahi in the United States and Argor-Heraeus and PAMP in
Switzerland, the sources said. 
    "It all went up for tender and different refineries won
different pieces (of the contract)," said one source. 
    Valcambi, Argor-Heraeus, PAMP, Asahi and Newmont all
declined to comment. 
    Valcambi is the world's largest gold refinery and had
processed almost all of Newmont's gold output for around 15
years, the sources said. Newmont owned a majority stake in
Valcambi until 2015 when it sold the shares to India's Rajesh
Exports  REXP.NS .
    The sources said Newmont would send gold from its mines in
the United States to Asahi and material from mines in Peru and
Ghana to either PAMP or Argor-Heraeus. 
    Newmont also operates mines in Suriname and Australia, and
in total produces around 5 million ounces, or 155 tonnes, of
gold a year - more than 4 percent of global mine production and
enough on its own to fill the capacity of a medium-sized
refinery. 
    Competition has pushed refining charges down sharply in
recent years, and sources said rates for the Newmont deal could
range from $0.30 an ounce to as little as $0.05 an ounce –
translating to revenue of between $200,000 and $1.2 million a
year for 4 million ounces.
    To boost revenues, refiners are increasingly making money
out of products such as coins and jewellery parts for which they
can charge more. 
    Newmont is set to overtake Barrick Gold Corp  ABX.TO  as the
world's largest gold producer this year when it acquires rival
Goldcorp Inc  G.TO .  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N21G1O3

 (Reporting by Peter Hobson; Editing by Veronica Brown and Mark
Potter)
 ((Peter.Hobson@thomsonreuters.com; +44 207 542 0083;))