Ahafo North ramp-up offsets Ahafo South's planned decline in Newmont's second quarter

Newmont's second-quarter 2026 results show its two Ghanaian mines moving in opposite directions, with Ahafo North's output climbing as the newer mine ramps up and Ahafo South's production and costs both worsening as planned mine sequencing exposed lower-grade ore.

Two mines, two trajectories

Ahafo South produced 100,000oz of attributable gold in the quarter, taking its year-to-date total to 228,000oz, while unit costs rose sharply: all-in sustaining costs climbed to $2,604/oz in the second quarter from $1,964/oz in the first, with by-product cash costs up to $2,164/oz from $1,696/oz. Newmont attributed the increase to planned mine-sequencing effects that reduced gold grades during the quarter, consistent with the mine working through the tail end of its higher-grade reserves following last year's closure of the Subika open pit.

Ahafo North, by contrast, produced 68,000oz in the quarter for a year-to-date total of 130,000oz, at markedly lower unit costs of $1,270/oz cash cost and $1,485/oz all-in sustaining cost. Newmont said it expects Ahafo North's production to keep increasing sequentially through the rest of 2026 as the mine continues to ramp toward its steady-state output range.

What it means for the Ahafo complex

The figures illustrate, in hard numbers, the handover Newmont has been describing since Ahafo North's commissioning: a maturing, higher-cost Ahafo South giving way to a newer, lower-cost mine within the same broader complex. For Newmont's overall Ghana business, that mix shift should support lower average unit costs over time even as total ounces from the two operations even out.

What happens next

Newmont said second-half guidance also anticipates lower expected ounces from some of its other operations, including Yanacocha and Merian, with production timing adjustments across its portfolio expected to offset one another so the company still meets full-year guidance. For the Ahafo complex specifically, the key metric to watch through the rest of 2026 will be whether Ahafo North's sequential production gains continue to outpace the decline at Ahafo South as its remaining reserves are worked down. Investors will also be watching whether Ahafo South's elevated unit costs prove temporary, tied to the specific ore sequencing disclosed this quarter, or whether they mark a more lasting step up in the cost of extracting the mine's remaining lower-grade material.

Sources

• Newmont Corporation (SEC 8-K exhibit): Newmont Reports Second-Quarter 2026 Results, 23 Jul 2026

Photo: An overburden dump at Newmont's Ahafo gold mine complex in Ghana. The EITI, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0.