Newmont beats profit estimates on higher gold production

(Reuters) -Newmont Corp beat Wall Street estimates for second-quarter profit on Wednesday, as the world's biggest gold miner benefited from robust production and higher prices.

The company also said it would sell the entity holding its deferred payment rights linked to the Batu Hijau mine in Indonesia for about $153 million.

Newmont, which completed its $17 billion acquisition of Australian miner Newcrest in November, has revealed plans to achieve at least $2 billion in gross proceeds from the divestiture of high-quality, non-core asset sales.

Shares of the company were up 2.5% after the bell.

Attributable gold production rose to 1.61 million ounces in the second quarter from 1.24 million ounces a year earlier. Analysts had expected production of 1.56 million ounces, according to LSEG data.

Average realized gold price was $2,347 per ounce in the quarter ended June 30, compared to $1,965 per ounce a year earlier.

Prices of the precious metal rose 4.2% in the April-June quarter. The rally is also expected to help Canadian peer Barrick Gold.

Newmont's all-in-sustaining cost, an industry metric that reflects total expenses associated with production, rose to $1,562 per ounce of gold from $1,472 per ounce a year earlier.

The precious metals miner continues to expect total annual attributable gold production of 6.9 million ounces. This compares to analysts' estimates of 6.8 million ounces.

On an adjusted basis, Denver, Colorado-based Newmont posted a profit of 72 cents per share for the April-June quarter, compared with analysts' estimates of 62 cents, according to LSEG data.

(Reporting by Vallari Srivastava in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)