There is a trap in comparing the mid-cap ASX gold miners to NCM....

There is a trap in comparing the mid-cap ASX gold miners to NCM. Cashflow matters but so do reserves. Most of the ASX miners are relatively light on reserves compared to Canadian/international gold miners. Generally the approach in Australia is get the minimum ounces to build a project with good cashflow and then hopefully extend mine life as you go (been a very good strategy in the last few years in a gold bear market).

Newcrest has two mines with the largest reserve positions in the world (Cadia, Lihir). On a reserve basis NST is overvalued compared to all peers, however the market likely believes that they will continue to increase mine life. It's a risk though, and also an expense, because NST will have to continue to spend big exploration dollars to convert resources to reserves.

Slide from NCM below.

I wouldn't buy NCM either but I recognise in a true bull market companies with a large number of ounces in the ground will outperform.