Cash-rich Newmont Mining mulls boosting dividend as peers pursue debt reduction

With a plump $3.1-billion pile of cash, Newmont Mining is mulling a sweeter dividend to attract a broader shareholder base, a move that makes it an outlier in the still recovering gold sector. Although miners are no longer crippled by expansion-fuelled debt loads, the priority for their cash is building and expanding mines to replace depleting gold reserves, and further reducing debt.