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 via ...

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 met ...

. Normandy was, during much of the late 20th century, Australia's largest gold miner.Normandy Mining takeover
''

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

'', 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 states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...

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 , established_ ...

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 Australian Securities Exchange Ltd or ASX, is an Australian public company that operates Australia's primary securities exchange, the Australian Securities Exchange (sometimes referred to outside of Australia as, or confused within Australia as ...

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 t ...

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 Joseph Isaac "Diamond Joe" Gutnick (born June 1952; he, יוסף יצחק הכהן גוטניק) is an Australian businessman, mining industry entrepreneur and the former president of the Melbourne Football Club(1996-2001). He is also an ordain ...

,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 The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) is an independent commission of the Australian Government tasked as the national corporate regulator. ASIC's role is to regulate company and financial services and enforce laws to pro ...

, 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 The Wiluna Gold Mine is an active gold mine in Western Australia near the town of Wiluna. The mine was active from 1984 until its closure in 2007 when it was put into care and maintenance, and again from late 2008 to June 2013 when the owners, ...

'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

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 New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...

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 in early 2009. * Bronzewing Gold Mine: 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 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: 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 *

: 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