Normandy Mining was an Australian
mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic ...
company which predominantly mined
gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile me ...
. Normandy was, during much of the late 20th century, Australia's largest gold miner.
[Normandy Mining takeover]
'' ABC'', published: 5 September 2001, accessed: 11 February 2010
Normandy ceased to exist when it was taken over by the
Newmont Mining Corporation
Newmont Corporation is a gold mining company based in Greenwood Village, Colorado, United States. It is the world's largest gold mining corporation. Incorporated in 1921, it owns gold mines in Nevada, Colorado, Ontario, Quebec, Mexico, the Domin ...
in February 2002,
[View Project Owners: Jundee – Nimary]
accessed: 19 December 2009 and became Newmont Asia Pacific instead.
[Unveils new global image to reflect Normandy/Franco Acqs]
Newmont ASX announcement, published: 6 June 2002, accessed: 13 February 2010
The company produced gold mainly from its
Western Australia
Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...
n mines, which, in 1998, provided approximately 50% of its production, followed by the
Northern Territory
The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory shares its borders with Western Aust ...
and
Queensland
)
, nickname = Sunshine State
, image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, establishe ...
with approximately 15% each. International gold production contributed for less than 10% of the overall company production.
Overview
Names and listings
Normandy Mining started its existence under the name of Northwest Tantalum NL, changing it to Amad NL on 12 August 1966. Amad NL became Normandy Resources NL on 12 December 1985 and was listed on the
Australian Securities Exchange under the code NDR. The company changed its name once more on 9 May 1991, to Normandy Poseidon Limited, and was then listed under the code NPL. The last name change occurred on 20 June 1995, to Normandy Mining Limited, under the stock code of NDY. The stock was delisted in 2002.
The company was also listed on the
Toronto Stock Exchange
The Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX; french: Bourse de Toronto) is a stock exchange located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the 10th largest exchange in the world and the third largest in North America based on market capitalization. Based in the ...
and the
Montreal Exchange
The Montreal Exchange (MX; french: Bourse de Montréal), formerly the Montreal Stock Exchange (MSE), is a derivatives exchange, located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada that trades futures contracts and options on equities, indices, currencies, ETFs, ...
.
Early history
On 1 July 1981,
Robert Champion de Crespigny
Robert James Champion de Crespigny, AC (born 1950) is a multi-millionaire Australian businessman and founder of Normandy Mining Limited. Currently estimated with his ownership in PBE and Rutherford corporations his net worth is near 1B. In 2004 ...
was appointed a company director, later to serve as the chairman of the company until its take over by Newmont. Crespigny transformed the exploration company Amad, valued at A$3 million, to Australia's largest gold miner, valued at A$4.9 billion by Newmont, earning an estimated A$160 million in the process.
In October 1996, Normandy took over Posgold Limited.
Great Central Mines takeover
In early 1999, Normandy made an offer for
Great Central Mines
Great Central Mines was an Australian gold mining company.
The company lost its independence in 1999, when it was taken over by Normandy Mining, and was renamed Normandy Yandal Operations Limited in 2000. The company's takeover however led to ...
, a company led by the ordained Rabbi
Joseph Gutnick,
[Minerals boom leads to Bronzewing revival]
''Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-own ...
'', broadcast: 27 November 2006, accessed: 15 December 2009 through
Yandal Gold, a company it owned a 49.9% interest in. This offer came under investigation from the
Australian Securities and Investments Commission, which demanded a termination of the offer on 23 March 1999. Gutnick and Crespigny were found to have illegally structured a takeover of the company and Gutnick was ordered to return $28.5 million to investors. The court found that their behaviour in jointly bidding $450 million earlier that year for Great Central Mines was unlawful and deceptive. Both Gutnick and Crespigny had shareholdings in GMC before this bid was launched, and they agreed together to form the Yandal Gold company. The court found however, that it was only Gutnick who received any benefit and it was therefore him who had to pay the $28.5 million.
The deal nevertheless went ahead and brought the
Bronzewing,
Jundee and
Wiluna Gold Mine's to the company.
Newmont takeover
In late 2001,
AngloGold made an offer for Normandy, valued at A$1.43 per Normandy share. It subsequently increased this offer by 30 cents per share, but was outbid by Newmont, which offered A$1.70 per share. AngloGold closed its offer on 21 January 2002, not having found sufficient acceptance to warrant an extension. AngloGold's offer was valued at A$3.2 billion, 30% above Normandy's share price at the time.
Normandy was then taken over by ''Delta Acquisition LLC'', a fully owned subsidiary of the
Newmont Mining Corporation
Newmont Corporation is a gold mining company based in Greenwood Village, Colorado, United States. It is the world's largest gold mining corporation. Incorporated in 1921, it owns gold mines in Nevada, Colorado, Ontario, Quebec, Mexico, the Domin ...
in February 2002. The company was delisted from the ASX on 1 July 2002,
and became Newmont Australia instead. Newmont had also, at the same time, taken over the
Franco-Nevada Mining Corporation Limited, making the company the world's largest gold producer.
Had AngloGold succeeded in its bid, they would have become the world's largest producer instead.
Operations
Western Australia
*
Big Bell Gold Mine
The Big Bell Gold Mine is a gold mine located at Big Bell, 24 km north-west of Cue, Western Australia. : The mine was owned by Normandy until October 1999, when
New Hampton Goldfields Limited acquired it for A$12 million in cash and A$17 million in shares.
*
Boddington Gold Mine: 33.33% owned by Normandy, Boddington is now fully owned by Newmont, having bought out
Newcrest Mining's 22.22% in 2006 and the remainder from
AngloGold Ashanti
AngloGold Ashanti Limited is a global gold mining company. It was formed in 2004 by the merger of AngloGold and the Ashanti Goldfields Corporation. It is now a global gold producer with 21 operations on four continents. The company is listed ...
in early 2009.
*
Bronzewing Gold Mine
The Bronzewing Gold Mine is a gold mine located approximately 83 km north-east of Leinster, Western Australia. The mine, owned by Navigator Resources Limited, has been in care and maintenance since March 2013, after its owner went into adm ...
: Bronzewing was acquired in June 2000 when Normandy took over Great Central Mines, the mine stayed with the company until the Newmont takeover. In July 2004,
View Resources purchased the mine from Newmont for A$9.0 million.
*
Golden Grove Mine: Golden Grove was acquired in November 1991 from
Australian Consolidated Minerals Pty Ltd and stayed with Newmont until its sale to
Oxiana Limited
Oxiana Limited was an Australian copper and gold miner and exploration company.
History
Oxiana was founded in 1932 as Golden Plateau and listed on the Australian Stock Exchange. In the early 1980s, the company shifted its focus from gold mining ...
in June 2005 for A$265 million.
[To Acquire Golden Grove Mine from Newmont]
Oxiana ASX announcement, published: 24 June 2005, accessed: 11 January 2010 Golden Grove was Normandy's only zinc mine, but also produced gold.
*
Jubilee Gold Mine: Jubilee was acquired from
Hampton Australia in January 1994. In April 1996, it was acquired by New Hampton Goldfields Limited.
*
Jundee Gold Mine: Jundee was part of the GMC deal in 2000 and continues to be operated by Newmont.
[Jundee, Western Australia]
Newmont website, accessed: 20 December 2009
*
Super Pit gold mine
The Fimiston Open Pit, colloquially known as the Super Pit, was Australia's largest open cut gold mine until 2016 when it was surpassed by the Newmont Boddington gold mine also in Western Australia. The Super Pit is located off the Goldfields ...
: Normandy held 50% of the Kalgoorlie Consolidated Gold Mines Pty Ltd, operator of the Super Pit gold mine, a stake Newmont has retained. The other 50% is held by
Barrick Gold.
MINEDEX website
Golden Mile / KCGM search result, accessed: 26 January 2010
* Wiluna Gold Mine: Like Jundee and Bronzewing, Normandy acquired Wiluna in the GMC take over and brought it to Newmont. Agincourt Resources purchased the mine on 10 December 2003 from Newmont for shares and $3.65 million in cash.[Delisted.com.au: Agincourt Resources]
accessed: 26 December 2009
Production
Annual production figures of the company:
Gold
* 1 Of which 1,433,900 ounces were attributable to Normandy.
Zinc
References
External links
MINEDEX website
{{Gold mining companies of Australia
Defunct mining companies of Australia
Gold mining companies of Australia
Non-renewable resource companies established in 1985
Non-renewable resource companies disestablished in 2002
1985 establishments in Australia
2002 disestablishments in Australia
Companies formerly listed on the Australian Securities Exchange
Companies based in Adelaide
Newmont
2002 mergers and acquisitions