UPDATE 1-Soaring gold price boosts Newmont profit
(Adds forecast, costs)
NEW YORK, July 24 (Reuters) - Newmont Mining Corp (NEM.N), the world's No. 2 gold producer, on Thursday posted a second-quarter profit as revenue jumped 19 percent, helped by big gains in the price of the precious metal.
Net income was $277 million, or 61 cents per share, compared with a loss of $2.1 billion, or $4.57 per share, a year earlier.
Excluding one-time items, earnings more than doubled to $230 million, or 51 cents per share, beating analysts' average forecast of 48 cents, according to Reuters Estimates.
Revenue rose to $1.5 billion from $1.3 billion. The average realized gold price was $900 per ounce, compared with $665 in the second quarter of 2007.
The Denver-based company stuck to its full-year sales forecast of 5.1 million to 5.4 million ounces of gold, with costs between $425 and $450 per ounce.
Costs in the second quarter were $440 per ounce, up from $433 a year earlier. The company said those costs were based on an oil price of $125 per barrel, up from $90 in the first quarter.
Newmont said its Yanacocha gold mill in Peru and its Nevada power plant began commercial production during quarter, and both were completed on or ahead of schedule. (Reporting by Christopher Kaufman; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn and John Wallace)
