PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Gold miner Norton Gold Fields has again upped its gold production during the three months to December, with the miner reporting that 50 398 oz of gold had been delivered from its Paddington operations, in Western Australia.

The December quarter production was up from the 46 957 oz delivered during the previous quarter, and saw full-year production reach 178 269 oz of gold, well in line with the guidance of between 176 000 oz and 184 000 oz.

“During 2014, we shored up our efforts to reduce costs and increase production, resulting in record gold production for the second successive year, along with the lowest C1 cash cost since July 2009,” said MD and CEO Dianmin Chen.

Cash costs for the quarter reached A$783/oz, while full-year costs were A$888/oz.

Tonnes milled during the December quarter were 23.5% above expectations, and as a result, total costs for 2014 were 10% below forecast, cost per tonne milled was 23% below forecast and cost per ounce of gold poured was 31% below forecast.

During the December quarter, the Paddington mill processed 935 342 t of ore, at a head grade of 1.90 g/t gold, with the mill processing more than 3.72-million tonnes of ore, at a head grade of 1.68 g/t gold during the full year.

Chen said that the record yearly throughput from the Paddington mill was a testament to the management and skill of the team at Paddington.

Business improvement measures to reduce maintenance downtime had also seen a substantial decrease against budget, and Chen noted that cost savings were also realised across a number of reagents, due to metallurgical projects implemented during the quarter.

Some 50 872 oz of gold was shipped during the quarter, at an average gold price of A$1 429/oz, while gold shipped for the full year reached 177 727 oz, at an average price of A$1 448/oz.

Norton was currently the subject of a takeover offer from its major shareholder, Zijin Mining, which was offering Norton shareholders 20c a share for all the shares it did not already own.