PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Gold miner Newcrest Mining reported a 5% increase in production for the quarter ended September 30, compared with the previous corresponding period, but output fell by 14% when compared with the June 2018 quarter.

Gold production in Newcrest’s first quarter reached 548 000 oz and the quarter-on-quarter drop was attributed to lower output at the Lihir, Telfer and Gosowong operations. This was partially offset by higher gold production at the Cadia mine, the Australian miner said on Wednesday.

Production from Lihir, in Papua New Guinea, in the September quarter was affected by a series of planned shutdowns, while gold production at the Telfer mine, in Australia, was affected by an unplanned outage to the process water system and a rake failure in the tailings thickener.

Production at Gosowong, in Indonesia, decreased owing to reduced mill availability as a result of unplanned power outages, which was partially offset by higher head grades.

Cadia’s production in the June quarter had been negatively affected by the Northern tailing storage facility embankment slump.

Copper production for the September quarter was up 49% on the previous corresponding period, and up 24% on the June quarter to 25 000 t.

“During our first quarter of 2019, Cadia’s operating and financial performance continued to improve, with higher production and lower all-in sustaining costs per ounce, both year-on-year and quarter-on-quarter,” said Newcrest MD and CEO Sandeep Biswas.

“Gold production for the group was higher than the corresponding period first quarter of 2018, but lower than the prior quarter, as expected, given the number of planned major shutdowns during the period.”

Biswas said that gold production was expected to increase over the remainder of the 2019 financial year, with Newcrest maintaining its output targets of between 2.35-million and 2.6-million ounces of gold, and between 100 000 t and 110 000 t of copper for the full year.