The US automaker has invested in several miners to improve access to battery minerals.

“The company is not up for sale and this was unsolicited,” Sherry Duhe said in an interview with Bloomberg.

This announcement follows previous engagements with Ericsson and Telstra to trial private 4G LTE at the Lihir mine and more recently for surface operations at Cadia.

A pick-up in property-related steel demand from China would underpin higher manganese prices in coming months, CEO Graham Kerr said.

A third employee was rescued with minor injuries.

Underlying earnings for the six months ended Dec. 31 was $560 million, compared with $1 billion in the previous corresponding period.

Insights from analysts and shareholders suggest that Newmont will need to make another improved bid.

High oil and coal prices helped the company to post a record annual profit.