The company produced 1.46 million ounces of gold at an all-in sustaining cost of $1,039/oz for the period, broadly similar to the 1.48Moz produced at AISC of $1,030/oz in the prior year period.

Production in the latest quarter, compared with the previous year, was impacted by the sale of Red Lake in Canada, lower leach pad production and the ramp down of the mill at Yanacocha in Peru, lower mill throughput at Nevada Gold Mines in the US, lower ore grade milled at Merian in Suriname, and lower production at Cerro Negro in Argentina, largely offset by higher ore grade milled at Peñasquito (Mexico), Musselwhite (Canada), Boddington (Australia) and Akyem (Ghana).

The company ended the quarter with $5.5 billion in cash and reduced its debt by $550 million, or 9%, to $5 billion. It maintained its 55c per share dividend for the quarter.

"In the first quarter we delivered a solid financial performance with $1.5 billion in adjusted EBITDA and $442 million in free cash flow, putting Newmont on track to achieve our full-year guidance with improving production expected in the second half of the year," said Newmont president and CEO Tom Palmer.

Newmont expects to make an investment decision on its 300,000oz/y Ahafo North expansion in July and 500,000oz/y Yanacocha Sulphides project in Peru in the second semester.

Shares in Newmont are trading at $62.07, valuing the company at $49.7 billion.