Newmont announces end of strike at Penasquito Mine in Mexico

Newmont announces it has reached a definitive agreement with the National Union of Mine, Metal, and Allied Workers of the Mexican Republic to end the strike initiated by the Union on June 7, 2023, at the company’s Penasquito mine located in the Mexican state of Zacatecas. On October 13, 2023, Newmont and the Union submitted the Agreement to the Mexican Labor Court, which gave its approval, thus ending the strike. The strike was initiated by the Union demanding the company pay additional profit sharing, equivalent to double the amount agreed upon one year ago, along with other alleged violations of the Collective Bargaining Agreement. Key terms of the Agreement include: Newmont will not pay any additional incremental profit sharing for 2022. This was the basis for the strike, and the profit sharing paid by the company this year fully complied with Mexican law and the Collective Bargaining Agreement. If, as a consequence of the strike, the Penasquito mine reports no profit in 2023, then Newmont agrees to pay an additional bonus in Q2 next year, equivalent to two months’ wages as the company recognizes the hardship employees have experienced given the duration of the strike. Newmont will pay employees a fixed amount, roughly equivalent to 60% of wages lost, since the strike began on June 7, 2023. This payment is intended to mitigate the financial impact that the strike, initiated by the Union, has had on the company’s workforce. In addition, as part of the separate, annual wage negotiations under the Collective Bargaining Agreement, Newmont and the Union have agreed to an 8% wage increase, in line with Mexican mining industry wage increases for 2023. These wage negotiations were not part of the Union’s claims as grounds for taking the strike action. Newmont’s priority is to safely return the workforce to this Tier 1 operation while ensuring an orderly ramp-up in production. It is expected to take several weeks to achieve stable production levels and a status update will be provided during the company’s Q3 earnings call on October 26, 2023.