Brian Tabolt
Acting Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Newmont
Thanks, Rob and good morning everyone. Let's get started with the financial highlights. In the first quarter, Newmont delivered $2.7 billion in revenue at a realized gold price of $1,906 per ounce, driven from 21% of our anticipated full year production and including $376 million from our copper, silver, lead and zinc co-products. Adjusted EBITDA of $1 billion and cash from operations of $481 million, which includes $360 million of unfavorable working capital movements, partly due to the timing of concentrate shipments at Penasquito. As stated previously, we are currently in a period of meaningful reinvestment with capital spend for the first quarter of $526 million as we continue to progress our near-term projects and position our portfolio to be profitable and resilient for decades to come.
Additionally, through the continued rationalization of our portfolio, we sold our stake in Triple Flag, which generated $179 million of proceeds, contributing to Newmont's strong liquidity profile at the end of the quarter with $3.5 billion of cash on the balance sheet. This investment-grade balance sheet continues to be an integral part of our capital allocation strategy, maintaining financial strength and flexibility while balancing sustainable reinvestment and meeting shareholder returns. First quarter GAAP net income from continuing operations was $339 million or $0.42 per diluted share. Adjustments included $0.05 related to a gain from the sale of our interest in Triple Flag as part of our ongoing portfolio optimization, $0.05 related to unrealized mark-to-market gains on equity investments and $0.08 related to tax adjustments.
Taking these into account, we reported first quarter adjusted net income of $0.40 per diluted share, relatively in line with the previous quarter despite lower production as planned and previously communicated. These results also include the impact from higher average realized price, lower sales volumes including the impact from the timing of concentrate sales at Penasquito, as mentioned earlier and lower total cost applicable to sales driven by lower overall production and higher oil prices. And as a reminder, this higher gold price environment results in both favorable inventory adjustments as well as higher royalties and production taxes. As the year progresses, we anticipate that unit costs will decline as production increases and inflationary pressures stabilized, improving margins and strengthening our financial position.
As a reflection of the confidence in our business and our strong financial position, this morning we declared a first quarter dividend of $0.40 per share or $1.60 per share on an annualized basis, set within our established framework and in line with our fourth quarter dividend. This continues to be the highest dividend per share in the gold sector and remains within the top 20% of large-cap dividend payers in the S&P 500. With this dividend declared, Newmont will have returned $4.5 billion to shareholders through dividends since introducing our framework in October 2020. And we have now maintained a dividend yield above 3% for 10 consecutive quarters. And with that, I'll pass it back to Tom.
Thomas Ronald Palmer, Newmont Corporation - President, CEO & Director 5
Thanks, Brian. I would now like to provide an update on our potential acquisition of Newcrest. To briefly recap the key events and milestones over the last three months, on February 5, Newmont confirmed that we had submitted a nonbinding proposal to acquire Newcrest. Then on February 15, Newcrest advised that they had rejected our proposal, but offered to provide us access to limited nonpublic information. After negotiating an appropriate nondisclosure agreement, we were provided access to this information.
As part of this process, my executive leadership team and I, along with some of our key subject matter experts, held a face-to-face meeting with the Newcrest management team. After reviewing this additional information, we submitted a revised nonbinding proposal to the Board of Newcrest with the following terms: a proposal to acquire 100% of the issued share capital by way of an Australian scheme of arrangement under which Newcrest shareholders would report $0.4 Newmont shares for each Newcrest share. Newcrest would have the right to fund and paid shareholders special dividend of up to USD1.10 per share to realize the value of franking credits and that the Newmont offer is best and final, subject only to no superior proposal emerging.
On April 10, the Newcrest Board then agreed to grant Newmont access to confirmatory due diligence to enable us to put forward a binding proposal. Newmont has been provided exclusivity for a four-week due diligence period that ends at midnight on May 11. Our proposed acquisition would combine the assets and talent of two of the sectors of senior gold producers and set the new standard for safe, profitable and responsible gold mining. Newmont has a long history and a shared heritage with Newcrest, establishing our Australian subsidiary way back in 1966, a subsidiary that would become Newcrest some 25 years later. And as part of that share history, our companies also have shared commitments to a strong safety culture and leading sustainability practices, which is in addition to the complementary portfolios of world-class assets located in low-risk mining jurisdictions.
Our proposed acquisition would strengthen our established position in Australia, creating efficiencies and value with a shared workforce, technical expertise and large-scale supply chain optimization and it would build upon the district potential in British Columbia's highly prospective golden triangle through a combination of operating mines and development projects that would deliver value through shared technology, mobile capabilities and ore body expense. With our scale and track record of successfully managing some of the world's top Tier one assets, this transaction would leverage Newmont's experience from the Goldcorp acquisition, where we have demonstrated over the last four years that we can generate meaningful improvements to performance, stability and profitability, especially at large open pit and underground operations.
Since we closed the Goldcorp acquisition, just over four years ago, on April 18, 2019, we have delivered more than $1 billion in annual synergies, significantly exceeding our initial commitment of $365 million. More than 3/4 of this synergy value was generated by focusing on the fundamentals of mining and processing and achieved for the disciplined application of our Proven Full Potential Program and leveraging our Nemont operating model with an experienced team of leaders and subject matter experts. Penasquito, as the only Tier one asset in the Goldcorp acquisition has been the main driver of this value, generating more than $700 million in annual synergies. At this very large open pit mine, we have increased the average payload on our fleet of 85 large 330-tonne haul trucks by 17 tonnes per load with scope for further improvement.
This translates to an additional 12 million tonnes of material moved per year for next to zero cost. Combined with other load-and-hold improvements, we have increased the annual total material moved at Penasquito by more than 20% compared to 2020 with no additional equipment. Then turning to the processing plant at Penasquito, we have worked to understand and then address the bottlenecks in the crushing, grinding and flotation circuits of this complex polymetallic operation, delivering a 7% increase in annual throughput compared to 2020, which translates to around $300 million in free cash flow improvements each year from this operation. The Goldcorp acquisition involved the integration of five new operations, of which one Penasquito was a Tier one asset. It also involved the entry into three new jurisdictions. By comparison, our proposed acquisition of Newcrest would also involve the integration of five new operations. But importantly, only one new jurisdiction. And notably, to the operations, Cadia and Lihir are Tier one assets with Red Chris and Brucejack representing a Tier one district in the golden triangle of British Columbia.
In the four years since April 2019, we have delivered on our value proposition and exceeded the commitments that we made. We have strengthened our position as the industry's recognized responsible gold leader. We have enhanced our portfolio through the successful integration of the former Goldcorp assets into our Newmont operating model delivering over $1 billion in annual synergies. We have optimized our portfolio, generating over $2 billion in proceeds from the divestments of Red Lake, our share of both KCGM and Continental Gold, along with the continued rationalization of our non-core equity portfolio.
Notably, $1.5 billion of the proceeds from these divestments was delivered within the first 12 months of the acquisition closing and we have led the industry on capital returns, returning more than $5.5 billion to shareholders over the last four years while also completing over $1.5 billion in opportunistic share buybacks. Finally, our successful integration of the Goldcorp assets goes far beyond the synergies, assets divestments and leading shareholder returns. We have led the alignment of the former Goldcorp organization with Newmont's purpose, values, experience and culture. We have fully implemented Newmont's safety systems and processes. We have integrated our sustainability goals and targets.
Through our disciplined capital allocation process, the former Goldcorp assets have significantly benefited from the combined entity's free cash flow generation capability and we have learned to operate in three new jurisdictions and forge lasting community and host country relationships. So in closing, I'm not able to provide any further details on the Newcrest proposal at this time as it is a live engagement. But I want to be clear with everyone on today's call that we will continue to be disciplined as we work through the due diligence process and determine synergies, and we will act in the best interest of our shareholders. Thank you for your time today. And with that, I now turn it over to the operator to open up the lines for questions.
