It's been a disappointing past year for the Newcrest (ASX:NCM) share price

Where did it all go wrong for the mining company?

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It's been more than an interesting year on the charts for the Newcrest Mining Ltd (ASX: NCM) share price, which stand on the podium as one of the world's largest gold producers.

The Newcrest Mining share price has taken a nosedive over the previous 12 months, sliding 23% into the red, over this time period.

Let's dive in and see what happened to the Australian gold mining magnate.

Miner with thumbs down

Image source: Getty Images

The gradual walk down south from 2020

Turbulence in Newcrest's share price was first observed back at the beginning of August 2020.

Newcrest shares begun to slide firmly into the red from 6 August, and although there was no market sensitive information for the company on that day, a week earlier the company did release its quarterly report.

In the statement, the company demonstrated it achieved FY20 guidance and was able to strengthen its balance sheet by refinancing its debt profile at a lower cost.

Moreover, the company stated its copper production had increased by 15% sequentially from March 2020.

Despite these updates, Newcrest shares transcended into the red, falling from a high of $36.80 to $31 by the beginning of September.

After a positive quarterly report released in September, the share price began to consolidate slightly, however then made a turn back south after the company's presentation at the Credit Suisse conference.

This year in review for the Newcrest Mining share price

Since these 2 major announcements, the company's share price has continued to slide further out of the money.

Each time Newcrest shares have shown signs of life over the past 12 months, this has been succeeded by further downward pressures on the market price.

On 11 February the company filed its half year results for FY21, which detailed its increase in operating performance and free cash flow conversion.

The company also mentioned it had targeted 30-60% of annual free cash flow to be paid in dividends, up from 10-30% a year prior.

In early March, the company announced it had refinanced its debt at more favourable terms, taking advantage of record low-interest rates.

Newcrest shares began to recover following this announcement and continued their climb to $28.64 by mid-April.

Then, on 5th May 2021, the company announced that Gerard Bond, Newcrest's finance director and chief financial officer, would be resigning in January 2022, after 10 years in the role.

Following this, the share price began to work its way back down, where it has trended down slightly, to the current market price of $29.95.

Newcrest Mining share price snapshot

It has been a bumpy road for Newcrest shares over the last 12 months. Year to date, the company has dipped into the green by 0.66% but still lags the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO)'s year to date return of ~11%.

Newcrest shares are also 6% down on the month, and at the current market price, Newcrest has a market capitalisation of $21.4 billion and trades at a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.

The 52-week range exhibited is $23.08 – $38.15, and the company pays a 44 cents per share dividend, fully-franked, with a current yield of 1.7%.

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