Newcrest Mining has posted a 16 per cent rise in gold production in the fourth quarter, and annual production in line with earlier guidance by the company.
Newcrest said today that gold production in the fourth quarter of 2010/11 was 700,124 ounces, with production rising at each of its mine sites.
Gold production costs were higher, too, at $A542 per ounce, due to higher site costs and lower copper product credits per ounce, the miner said in a statement.
Copper production was 20,127 tonnes in the quarter, "slightly higher" than the previous quarter.
Newcrest said annual gold production of 2.702 million ounces was in line with its market update in early June, up 53 per cent on 2009/10, and reflecting the company's takeover of Lihir Gold Ltd and higher production at its Cadia Valley, Gosowong and Hidden Valley operations.
The production report followed a statement earlier on Thursday, in which Newcrest upgraded its resource estimate at its Wafi-Golpu deposit in Papua New Guinea, saying it now stands at over one billion tonnes of ore.
Newcrest said the deposit now was estimated to hold 26.6 million ounces of gold and nine million tonnes of copper, up from 16 million ounces of gold and 4.9 million tonnes of copper at the previous estimate.
Newcrest said the higher quarterly results reflected higher production at each of the company's mine sites.
"Hidden Valley and Lihir continue with minor production disruption while other sites have returned to planned production rates following previously advised production interruptions during the quarter," Newcrest said.
"Both sites are expected to return to planned production during the next quarter."
AAP