Newcrest lifts gold production in 3Q

Newcrest maintains its guidance for the full-year after reporting a 2.6pc increase in gold production for 3Q.

Supplied photo obtained Tuesday, May 4, 2010 of Lihir Gold Limited mining in production. Gold miner Newcrest Mining Ltd has agreed to buy all of rival Lihir Gold Ltd's ordinary shares in a deal valuing the target at $9.5 billion. (AAP Image/LGL Gold) NO ARCHIVING, EDITORIAL USE ONLY, INTL OUT **

Newcrest has maintained its guidance for the full-year after reporting a 2.6 per cent lift in gold production for the third quarter.

The better-than-expected result showed the gold mining giant’s output at 636,521 ounces, above the average analyst forecast of 611,000 ounces and near the top of the range of projections.

The firm also announced a 30.4 per cent jump in copper production to 22,294 tonnes.

Newcrest had a few issues to deal with in the quarter, headlined by a “geotechnical event” that suspended operations at its Gosowong project in Indonesia.

However, the miner was still able to report a 4.5 per cent dip in costs and retain its full-year guidance.

“It was a quarter with a number of challenges, although it is pleasing to have increased our production and lowered our all-in sustaining cost per ounce in the quarter,” Newcrest managing director Sandeep Biswas said.

“We increased the level of throughput at Cadia as planned, and Lihir continued its improvement journey with another lift in throughput rates.”

The firm added it had trimmed its capital expenditure guidance by around $US40 million to $US440m-$US540m, while gold production is expected to come in a range of 2.4m ounces to 2.6m ounces.

Newcrest stock has enjoyed a strong recovery this year, surging 38 per cent on the year-to-date against a 1.1 per cent slide in the broader market.