hedge book now fully closed out

Newcrest closes out gold hedge book

Thursday July 3, 2008, 10:22 am


Newcrest Mining Ltd has closed out its gold hedge book at a cost of $1.672 billion.

The close-out involved the purchase of 4,000,634 ounces of gold and was completed by the end of June at an average gold price of $A868 an ounce.

The purchase price was $A70 an ounce lower than the average spot price over the buying period.

Newcrest said the close out cost of $1.672 billion exceeded its initial estimate of $1.5 billion.

"However this higher cost was more than offset by increased revenue in that period and as a result it was not necessary to draw on any debt facilities as originally forecast," it said