MELBOURNE, June 6 (Reuters) - Newmont Corp ( NEM ) Chief

Executive Tom Palmer said on Thursday the gold miner's plans to

divest eight non-core assets and trim its workforce to cut debt

following its $17.14-billion purchase of Newcrest were

progressing well.

"(We are) quite excited about the level of interest in each

of those assets," Palmer told reporters in Melbourne.

Those assets include the Eleonore and Musselwhite mines

and a development project in Canada, a mine in Colorado and the

Akyem mine in Ghana. In Australia, the assets include the Telfer

gold mine and a 70% stake in the Haverion copper-gold project

that it owns with Greatland Gold.

The miner in February said it aims to realise over $2

billion in cash from portfolio optimization with Newcrest and

will focus on growing its core assets as part of its

transformation strategy.

"We have got a very full plate," Palmer said.

He pointed to artificial intelligence as a surprisingly

large new source of copper demand.

"It's quite remarkable to see that move in AI that we didn't

see even two years ago," Palmer said.