Welcome and thank you for standing by for Newmont Mining Corporation Q4 2008 Earnings Conference Call. At this time all participants are in a listen-only mode. (Operator Instructions). Today's conference is being recorded. If you have any objections you may disconnect at this time. I would now like to turn the call over to Richard O'Brien, President and CEO.

Thank you, operator. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us on our conference call today to discuss Newmont's financial results for 2008. With me in the room today are several members of management team who will also be available for questions at the end of the presentation. Before we get started, as we always do, I need to remind you that we will be discussing forward-looking information involving a number of risks, certain of which are unique to our industry as further described in our SEC filings. Turning to slide three, for those of you with access to our simulcast presentation, when I became CEO of Newmont in July 2007, we committed ourselves to reestablishing Newmont's credibility by delivering results inline with our plans and market expectations, with a focus on operational and project planning and execution. For our management team we embrace the need for a new day dawning at Newmont. As we turn our attention to 2009 and beyond we believe that the day has done for our company as we shift our focus to building on the momentum we've established over the last 18 months. And you can see that illustrated on the top half of our corporate score card on this side. We also remain focused on the bottom half of this score card highlighting the key items that we still need to work on and execute. As shown on this slide, we focused our efforts in 2008 on establishing safe and environmentally sound operating performance within expectations, highlighted by delivering on our original plans for gold sales, cost applicable to sales, and the capital expenditures. And early this year we improved our production and operating cost profile with the acquisition of the remaining 33% of Boddington from Anglo Gold. We're excited about this project…

Thank you. (Operator Instructions). Our first question comes from John Bridges from JP Morgan.

Hi there everybody. I wonder if you could give us a little bit more clarification on where you are going with Conga and how you see that transition from the oxidized to the sulfides there?

Sure, with respect to our 2009 development plans, a couple of things are going on at Conga and Yanacocha. At Conga as I mentioned, we continued to optimize the project cost as we look at the go forward economics. We continue to look at working in the regions with others to try to define the infrastructure necessary to support several mines in the region. With respect to the sulfide, in 2009 we continue definitional drilling under the existing pits at Yanacocha and around the existing pits to better define the prospects that we have for development there. We continue to think that there is development opportunity there, we need to do some more drilling this year and next before we can put the economics together to fully justify the investment in that kind of project. So, we are active on both of those John and we'll continue to keep you informed as we get further results.

Yes, I got the impression that it was something that would toss up at one some stage, whether you went to Conga, whether you went deep or at Yanacocha?

Yeah, I think its fair to say, probably not toss up, but it is really how do we optimize the two projects at the same time. Yanacocha obviously continues to have an asset life which will be concurrent with Conga. So one of the things that we're really trying to imagine is the best way to develop both projects, deliver the best return over the entire Yanacocha district. And it is a big district, we do have to manage social expectations within the district, and I think the pace that we go at with respect to exploration drilling and development will be somewhat dependent on our expectations for the amount of capital that we will need to spend on both projects.

Is there any hope for new technology to produce metal from sulfides at the mine site rather than shipping everything up?

John, it is all we hope. The realization of hope to opportunity is actually something that we're focused on this year and beyond. Part of what we've done in the last part of 2009 -- 2008 rather is really to reorganize the front end of our business under Guy Lansdown and Guy has put forth an effort towards reestablishing innovation as an important part of what we do at Newmont. And I know that right up there on the list in addition to the mine of the future is the opportunity for us to look at bringing newer technology into this. So, it is something that we're looking at.

Okay, great. And many thanks, great results, well done, thanks.

Thanks John.

Our next question comes from Victor Flores from HSBC.

Thanks, good morning. I have a few questions with respect to Hope Bay. Could you tell us how much was spent at Hope Bay during 2008 and how much of that was to upgrade the infrastructure and how much of that was actually drilling out the resource?

Yeah, I am going to ask Guy Lansdown to answer that question.

Good morning Victor. The focus as Richard said last year was on setting ourselves up to operate safely and environmentally compliance and to build a team. So the bulk of that spend last year was on infrastructure which included upgrading our JD, roads, camps and other infrastructure and that was about $80 million, $82 million was actually the number we ended up spending on it. As far as the remainder of the expenditure went, we spent about $40 million on combination of exploration and study work. And our focus going forward would be on an aggressive exploration program and continued work on optimizing and value adding certain options for the project.

Can you tell us how much you are planning on spending this year?

Yeah, we are looking at spending around $50 million to $60 million between study work and exploration work, and again a big effort on an aggressive exploration program focusing on drilling and identifying targets across the district.

Okay. Now I see from the slides that for this year you are planning 35,000 meters of drilling which for a project of this scale seems like a fairly modest amount and it seems like if you are spending 50 million to 60 million, there is money going into other things than drilling because 35,000 meters should cost a lot lesser. Is that correct?

Yes that's right on Victor. We actually said we want to spend, we are targeting more than 35,000 meters. It's a function of the number of drill weeks we've got up there at present as you might well understand that logistics are pretty tough. We can only work with what we've got at present and we're looking to maximize immediately as we get out of those drill weeks throughout the remainder of the year. But as you rightly pointed out, there is a lot of other work going on. As I said, identifying targets in the region and that I think is the various development options that we've got at our disposal.

Great, thank you. If I could just ask a quick question on Yanacocha, can you tell us how much of the production will come from the heap leach and how many tons you plan to put under leach, and how much will come from the mill?

This is Russ. I'll get you that analysis later. I actually don't have that in front of me.

Okay. That's great, thank you Russ. Thank you, that's all my questions.

Thanks Victor.

Our next question is from David Haughton from BMO Capital Markets.

Well good morning and thank you. Just following on from a little bit more break out on the CapEx expectation in 2009, what sort of CapEx are you expecting to spend on the development projects like Conga, Akyem and also Boddington in 2009?

The Boddington number I think I gave 750 million of the 875 to 925 in Australia relates to Boddington. And most of that is related to just completing the current project getting it up running and getting the mills turning and producing. So there is really not any additional on capital at Boddington. We've already bought the trucks and most of that is just related to completion. With respect to Akyem, we're probably spending around $20 million or so during the year to continue to push that with respect to Conga probably $30 plus million to move that along this year and Guy gave you the Hope Bay project numbers.

Okay. Is the Conga number included in the Yanacocha kind of CapEx guidance that we've seen previous or is this just a separate number?

Yes, David it is.

Okay. And with GQ West Wall, it seems to have accelerated very quickly from Stage 1 to Stage 3. I guess it's a Brownfield development which makes it easy. Can you give us a little bit of an idea as to what your production could be on a go forward basis?

What the project does is that it extends the life of the mine. That's really the future CapEx or laybacks for the project again focusing on the long-term for Nevada. It wouldn't come into operation immediately but as you say we know the asset well and it is an extension. We put a lot of dollars into drilling around the pit to get better an understanding of the extent of it and it's really just going to add the mine life by six years or so.

Okay, does all of that layback fall within the newly acquired Franco royalty footprint?

I can't answer that, I don't know for sure.

David, this is John, I'll get back to you on that as far as much how much is in the property versus non property.

Okay. And with interest the progression at Batu Hijau, as far as going into the higher grade material, will we still see in 2009 the seasonality of moving into the bottom of the pit in the dryer second and third quarter or is this staging going to overprint that seasonality a bit?

David, its Russell. At Batu we have and as you are well aware the second and third quarter is essential when we're able to get into the bottom of the pit. So the mine sequencing is really just a function of the wet season which ends roughly in April and starts up again in roughly October and it moves the month or so either side. So just as you saw this year our ability to access the high grade at the bottom of the pit is a function of the wet season. How long it comes and how much rain we get.

Okay, so as we are progressing into a much better year in 2009 we should still have more overloading in that second, third quarter than in the first and fourth?

Absolutely.

Okay. Thank you very much.

Could I just overlay on the answer of that question just a little bit about the Nevada projects that we're working on. As you've seen in the production estimates and cost estimates for 2009, we're seeing decline in Nevada. Brant Hinze and his team and Brian Hill, our Executive Vice President of Operations are really focused on providing a couple of things in Nevada. One is access to oxide, when we can find it as in the Gold Quarry West lay back. In addition to that as I discussed at Turf, we are looking at trying to extend the life of Nevada through higher grade additions underground. And so we have a number of things going on there, Brant and his team are focused on really trying to offset the decline in Nevada to reserve extensions and that's exactly as we talked about with respect to the Gold Quarry West Wall.

Thank you.

(Operator Instructions). Our next question comes from Mark Linamos (ph) from Morgan Stanley.

Hi. With some of the successes you've had over the last year, could you comment at all about whether you think there's opportunities to get more aggressive with growth or is it still best to think about the companies of five plus million ounce producers steady state? Thanks.

Yes, I guess just as a highlight I know it's a small number but we actually are projecting growth this year. It's slight but there is little bit of growth this year and I think as we look out, you're exactly right. One of the things that we need to do is continue to sustain what we have and we have a number of things going on to try to make that happen. The Boddington and the purchase of a third from Anglo is really the key to us over the next year providing some growth. Beyond that, we have a number of things that we're going to need to complete including the additions of Conga and Akyem to help offset the decline that we have from our maturing assets at Yanacocha and in Nevada. So overall I think this company continues to rest around that 5.25 million ounce level and I think at that level with the continued exposure to a non-hedged gold portfolio, we continue to believe that if we can sustain that, provide the leverage that we have and extend our reserve life through other mechanisms, I think that's how you should view this company.

Great and any update on the metallurgical issues at Phoenix that you have been working on which you drove further?

Yes, as we announced in the third quarter of last year, Brant Hinze and his team did a terrific job of bringing forward the Phoenix mine plan and at that time, we really did lock in a metallurgical program which over the really the first three quarters of 2008, the last half of 2007 really did define the metallurgy pretty well there. And I think as we said, we have clearly a little more exposure to copper there than gold when we redid the mine plan and because of that, one of the things that we're going to be watching at Phoenix is maybe less about the project in metallurgy recovery because its actually really right on top of plan at the current time. It's certainly going to be exposed to copper prices because that byproduct credit is going to be important to us in terms of keeping the cost down at Phoenix. So we're pretty confident in the mine plan, the team over there really took a lot of care during 2008 to come forward with the plan that they believe is deliverable. And as I've mentioned on just about every call, executing against our plans is really our number one objective when Phoenix came forward with their plan, they clearly understood that I expected they're going to deliver on it.

Thanks. And good luck with the rest of the plan this year.

Thank you.

Our next question comes from Brian MacArthur from UBS Security.

Good morning. I got on a little late so I apologize at this for that, but has the valuation for the sell down for 2008 and Batu Hijau have been done yet?

For 2008?

Yeah.

Brian, Russ. We have an ongoing efforts to finalize that valuation and we'll be submitting it prior to the end of March to the Department of Mines and Energy.

So that will happen before the arbitration is done?

That's for 2009.

Well sorry.

Offsetting '08 valuations?

Right.

Yes, that valuation will be submitted by March 31, 2009 to the Indonesian government.

Okay. Great, thanks very much.

Pleasure.

Our next question comes from John Hill (ph) from Cambridge Environment (ph).

Great. Thanks for the very detailed presentation. Just curious with the improvement expected that too in terms of grades and volumes for 2009. Where are we on the over burdened storage and the forest issues, in other words volume breakthroughs on the negotiating front, how sustainable are these results?

We haven't really made any significant progress with the advancing of pinjam pakai permit, and that is still an issue that we're trying to keep moving forward. Part of our plan now, we're actually in Phase V, we don't have any real significant stripping left to do in Phase V. Most of where we're at with the production plan is, its either going directly to the mill or its going on to the various stock piles we have. What's really more of the issue around the permit is looking at the next phases of expansion which would be going in to Phase VI.

Great, thanks. And then just a quick follow up on Phoenix, obviously a lot of work on the metallurgy and there is some chemistry in there. How about the real basics, how are we doing on the crushing plant and throughput there?

Yeah, we got the new crusher up in the fourth quarter of last year. Everything seems to be operating just as we planned. And throughputs actually I think really again right on plan. For Phoenix, maybe even a little bit higher than planned.

So right now throughputs is at design and recoveries are also at I guess revised targets?

Yes, yes, pretty much, you know, and we're two quarters into it right. So really it's going to take sometime to shake it out, make sure it stays there. But for right now things look to be the way that we had imagined them to be.

Well it's been a long road there. So, good work. Thank you.

Thank you to Brant and his team over there.

(Operator Instructions). Our next question come Wayne Atwell from (inaudible) Capital.

Good morning. Could you pass on your thoughts about the portfolio review in the sense that properties that maybe just don't fit into your portfolio, the grades aren't high enough, the costs aren't correct, too small and that you might be planning to put on the market and make it available to someone else and what kind of proceeds might you generate?

Yeah, I think at the present time I would say, we have a portfolio of projects that we stand pretty pat on. We last year sold out probably the last of the underground facilities in Nevada, sorry in Australia that we care to sell off. The others we believe we continue to have pretty good reserve life in front of us with some more definitional drilling, obviously on the underground. KCGM in Australia, we're working closely with that to make sure we come up with the optimal plan there. We'll continue to evaluate that one. But I think otherwise around the world we feel pretty pat with where we are with our portfolio right now.

Thank you.

Alright, so with that I want to thank you all for your attention and I appreciate the effort that you guys make to continue to follow the company. Any questions, I know John, Russ others will be available for you after the call. Thanks.

This concludes today's conference call. You may disconnect at this time.