Newmont's Gold Slide Gives Way to a Cleaner Nevada Partnership With Barrick

A rate-driven gold price drop pressured the stock for months, before a resolved dispute with Barrick removed a long-standing acquisition overhang.

31 Aug 2026 · 3 min read

Newmont rallied to a February peak near $176 before a sharp fall in the gold price hammered the stock through June, only for August to bring the resolution of a long-running dispute with Barrick over their shared Nevada gold operations, removing what had become a persistent acquisition overhang.

Barrick's spinoff plan puts Nevada under a spotlight

Pendal Group said Barrick's February announcement of plans to spin off its North American gold assets into a new listed company by year end, including its majority stake in the Nevada Gold Mines joint venture with Newmont, its Pueblo Viejo joint venture stake and its Fourmile project, created a potential acquisition target investors immediately began speculating about. That news arrived alongside Newmont's own mixed CY25 results, with a strong fourth-quarter beat offset by weaker cost and production guidance for CY26, where gold production is expected at 5.3 million ounces, 2 percent below consensus, and copper at 102 kilotonnes, both below Newmont's reiterated ten-year average expectation of 6.0 million ounces and 150 kilotonnes, with CY26 representing the trough year.

Gold's sharp fall drags the stock down through June

Alliance Bernstein said its overweight position detracted as gold equities came under pressure following a sharp fall in the gold price, driven by higher US yields and a stronger US dollar, though it continues to believe Newmont remains well positioned over the medium term given its diversified global asset base, strong balance sheet and significant free cash flow generation. PM Capital said the stock fell 11 percent in June, tracking a 12 percent drop in the physical gold price, as stickier US inflation shifted market expectations toward further Federal Reserve rate hikes, pushing the US dollar index to a one-year high and lifting Treasury yields, both of which reduced the appeal of non-yielding gold. Firetrail Investments said the stock fell with the weaker gold price despite provincial regulatory approval for its Red Chris growth project in Canada, and views Newmont's post-Newcrest simplification, divesting non-core assets, cutting costs and prioritising only the best projects, as setting up Red Chris to become a potential tier-one global asset.

Stickier inflation in the US shifted market expectations towards possibility of further interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve. This pushed the US Dollar Index to a one-year high and lifted Treasury yields, reducing the appeal of gold.

— PM Capital, Monthly Report, June 2026

Paradice Investment Management, overweight but net underweight gold overall at the end of June, said it continued engaging with Newmont on safety performance after another workplace fatality, and on environmental management at the Cadia mine, seeking updates on safety system upgrades.

A dispute resolution removes an overhang

Pendal Group said Newmont's second-quarter result in July came in largely in line, with stable production and free cash flow, production 2 percent ahead of consensus and costs in line despite higher diesel prices, unchanged CY25 guidance, and the balance sheet running around US$0.4 billion ahead of target, which could allow an accelerated buyback. The bigger news came in August, when Newmont resolved its dispute with Barrick over management of the Nevada joint venture, agreeing to pay Barrick US$1.95 billion for the vending in of Barrick's Fourmile project, a deal Pendal called a good outcome that removed a perceived acquisition overhang while paying well below market expectations for the project, with Newmont, the 38.5 percent shareholder in the joint venture, also securing additional governance rights.

This represented a good outcome for NEM, removing a perceived acquisition overhang and paying well below expectations for the project.

— Pendal Group, Newsletter, August 2026

What fund managers say they are watching next is how the Fourmile project integrates into the Nevada joint venture under its new governance terms, whether gold prices stabilise or recover from the rate-driven sell-off, progress on Red Chris toward becoming a tier-one asset, and delivery of an accelerated buyback given the balance sheet's outperformance against target.