THE operator of Lihir Gold Mine and the world’s third largest gold producer Newcrest Mining Ltd (Newcrest) has reported that its gold production fell 20 per cent, reports the Post Courier
The Australia’s largest mining giant in statement on Tuesday attributed the fall of gold production in line with its recent forecast, dented by heavy rains in PNG and lower ore grades in the second quarter of its 2011 fiscal year.
It also attributed that a groundfall at an open-pit mine in Australia has also compounded the fall.
The report indicated that gold output fell to 579,073 ounces in the December quarter of 2011 from 722,783 ounces a year earlier.
Newcrest said it expected December quarter production to be between 575,000 and 585,000 ounces.
The miner did not indicate as to how much the 20% fall of gold output translates to monetary value.
An email to Newcrests Melb-ourne head office and Port Moresby office for comments and deliberation on the fall were unsuccessful.
The Melbourne-based company, Australia’s top gold producer by output and the world’s third-largest by market value, last month trimmed its production forecast for the year through June.
Newcrest reiterated that full-year output was likely to be between 2.43 million and 2.55 million ounces, and said it was sticking with its original guidance on copper output, capital expenditure and operating costs.
Separately, the company said it expected to list on the Toronto Stock Exchange by March, and that it had lodged an application for a secondary listing with the TSX in December.
Newcrest completed the sale of two mining assets in Australia in early November.
The yield from the company’s flagship Lihir Island mine in the New Ireland Province would fall 100,000 ounces under budget in part because of heavy rains at the mine site, the company said.
“It is unlikely this production will be recovered during the remainder of this financial year,” Newcrest said in a statement in December 2011 while announcing the cut in its gold ore production.
Production at its Telfer mine — one of the biggest in Australia — would fall short by about 50,000 tonnes because the ore contained less gold than originally believed,”
