Newmont Corp.

Newmont Corporation is a global gold and copper producer with operations located throughout the Americas, Australia, Papua New Guinea, and Africa. As part of its mining and mineral-processing operations, the company uses large quantities of water to treat ore, control dust, manage tailings, and restore its sites after mining. Water recycling, watershed risk management, water-quality safeguards, and local stakeholder engagement are therefore critical to its environmental commitments.

Newmont's largest water-stewardship achievement has been its integration of high recycling and reuse rates with a tailored approach to water-risk management. In 2024, Newmont recycled or reused 368,013 megaliters, accounting for 71% of operational water use. At CC&V, Cerro Negro, and Peñasquito—the three water-stressed sites—these totals were 120,940 megaliters, or 80%.

Water-stress categorization draws from multiple maps of global water stress. Newmont applied WRI Aqueduct and the WWF Water Risk Filter, then refined classifications with local evidence including aquifer yields, depletion, interbasin transfers, and supply bottlenecks. This process kept Cerro Negro categorized as water-stressed and removed Tanami and Yanacocha after analysis of groundwater, sustainable yield, and interbasin transfers. Assessments also considered water quality, flooding, seasonal variability, governance, and water access.

Each site conducted quarterly assessments of high-priority water controls, with Peñasquito hosting a dedicated water-risk audit. The assessments demonstrated enhanced water balances, water-quality targets, seepage controls, recovery systems, and stakeholder documentation. Newmont also increased the number of water dashboards from two sites to five and incorporated climate projections into site water-balance models.

At the site level, water-mitigation actions included remedial works at Boddington's large water-storage dam, Hotham River catchment restoration and monitoring activities near Boddington, and a community-supported Fenix River cleanup near Cerro Negro. Total water use was 7% below the baseline established in 2018, including a 17% reduction at water-stressed sites. Total use increased 9% in 2023 when Peñasquito returned to full operations, Boddington refilled a damaged storage dam, and Merian refilled tailings-storage volumes.