JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – All but one of Newcrest’s five operations have delivered more ounces in the December quarter than in the previous quarter, the Australia-based gold major reported on Tuesday.
Gold production increased by 17.2% quarter-on-quarter to 613 000 oz and copper production was up 33.8% quarter-on-quarter to 22 000 t.
Group all-in sustaining cost (AISC) decreased by $69/oz to $829/oz in the quarter under review, with the Cadia mine, in New South Wales, delivering a record low AISC of $129/oz. The lower AISC was driven by higher production. The mine increased production from 120 514 oz to 180 223 oz and 12 196 t of copper to 180 223 t of copper. Production was expected to be higher, but a motor failure in one of its mills affected the operation’s ability to achieve its target throughput of 14-million tonnes a year by the end of December, Newcrest reported.
Along with Cadia, Telfer, Lihir and Bonriko also all delivered production increases, which was partly offset by a decrease in production at Gosowong.
Telfer, in Western Australia, increased production from 94 112 oz in the September quarter to 122 318 oz in the December quarter, although copper output fell from 4 485 t to 4 058 t.
The Lihir mine, in Papua New Guinea, produced 209 888 oz of gold, which compares with 202 922 oz in the previous quarter.
Bonriko, in Côte d'Ivoire, which Newcrest has agreed to sell for $81-million, produced 40 929 oz in the December quarter, an improvement on the 36 846 oz of the September quarter.
Gosowong, in Indonesia, produced 59 338 oz, down 13% on the 68 524 oz of the previous quarter.
The group is chasing a full-year guidance of 2.4-million ounces to 2.7-million ounces and, to date, has produced 1.14-million ounces towards that range. The copper guidance for the year is 80 000 t to 90 000 t, with year-to-date production currently at 39 002 t.
The half-year gold and copper production is below that of the same period of the 2017 financial year, when Newcrest had produced 1.23-million ounces of gold and 48 899 t of copper.
However, MD and CEO Sandeep Biswas affirmed that the group was on track for “substantially” stronger production from its continuing in the second half of the financial year and that it would achieve its guidance.
Newcrest stated that the AISC guidance was estimated using a copper price assumption of $2.40/lb, however, should prices remain substantially higher, the net AISC could be below the original guidance.