Newmont Mining Corp., the world’s second largest gold producer, returned to profitability in the fourth quarter as rising gold prices offset a sharp drop in copper demand.

Although the results were in line with Newmont’s forecast, Chief Executive Officer Richard O’Brien told analysts today that the company delayed some projects to conserve capital during the economic downturn.

The Denver-based company said it earned $10 million, or 2 cents a share, in the October-December quarter, a turnaround from a loss of $289 million, or 63 cents a share, a year earlier when it took a $1.12 billion goodwill writedown.

Excluding one-time items, Newmont said its adjusted profit was $120 million, or 26 cents a share.

Revenue slipped 5 percent to $1.34 billion from $1.41 billion a year ago. Gold sales were unchanged and copper sales fell because of diminished demand because of the recession.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters on average expected 25 cents a share and revenue of $1.42 billion.

Newmont said it sold 1.35 million ounces of gold, generating $1.3 billion at an average cost applicable to sales of $448 an ounce. The price per ounce of rose 26.5 percent, Newmont said.

In the year-ago quarter, Newmont had gold sales of $1.29 billion a year ago at an average cost applicable to sales of $366 an ounce.

O’Brien said during a conference call that Newmont anticipates higher gold sales at lower costs this year because operations will get under way at its Boddington mine, Australia’s largest gold mine.

Copper sales fell 61 percent to $47 million in the latest quarter from $121 million a year ago. Costs applicable to sales dropped to 65 cents a pound from $1.23 a pound.

For the full year, Newmont earned $853 million, or $1.87 a share, compared with a loss of $1.89 billion, or $4.17 a share, in 2007. The company reported $5.45 billion in gold sales and $752 million in copper sales for the year. Total revenue rose 12 percent, to $6.2 billion from $5.53 billion.

For 2009, Newmont Mining expects equity gold sales to increase to between 5.2 million and 5.5 million ounces at lower costs applicable to sales of between $400 and $440 per ounce.

Shares of Newmont fell 81 cents, or 2 percent, to $41.95 in midday trading.