By: Reuters

The CEO of Newmont NEM.N, the world's largest gold miner, on Wednesday urged the industry to control spending and invest wisely despite higher gold prices, saying the favourable market presented an opportunity for investors to benefit from expanding margins.

Gold XAU= rallied sharply in 2025 on safe-haven demand, hitting a record high of $5,595 an ounce in January 2026 and helping producers like Newmont report higher profits.

Though gold is down 4.7% so far this year due to expectations of interest rates staying higher for longer, industry experts forecast that the precious metal could reach $5,013 an ounce over the next 12 months.

"With the structural shift in gold prices, we see that there is an opportunity for stakeholders to get the benefit of increasing margins," Newmont CEO Natascha Viljoen told a mining conference in Johannesburg.

"The biggest mistake we can make is losing discipline in terms of capital allocation because it really becomes very attractive," she said, responding to a question about mistakes mining executives can make at the top of a commodity cycle.

Viljoen said the best thing the industry could do was maintain cost discipline despite high commodity prices, warning that losing focus could lead to bad decisions when the cycle turns.

She added that gold was currently "a store of long-term value" amid global geopolitical uncertainty.

"Gold is a low-risk investment," said Viljoen. She said governments, fund managers and individual investors were increasingly holding physical gold as part of their reserves or portfolios.

(Reporting by Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo and Nelson Banya, Editing by Xevi Fontdegloria)