Gold miner Newcrest Mining has maintained its full year production guidance, after reporting gold production in the March quarter five per cent lower than the prior quarter.
Newcrest Mining reported its gold production also was down more than 17 per cent in the March 2009 quarter compared to the corresponding period last year, but copper production rose.
Newcrest's March quarter production report showed gold production was down from 364,794 ounces in the March 2009 quarter to 441,341 ounces at the corresponding quarter last year, a fall of 17.34 per cent.
It was down five per cent on the December quarter.
Copper production was however up 11.37 per cent compared to the corresponding period last year, to 23,436 tonnes and up 10.38 per cent on the December 2008 quarter.
Newcrest offered full year production guidance at 1.63-1.70 million ounces for gold and 85-88 kilotonnes of copper.
The report showed the company's gross cash costs almost doubled on the corresponding period last year, from $256 per ounce to $507 per ounce, but were down 12 per cent on the December 2008 quarter.
"Newcrest continued to implement its strategy of growth through greenfields and brownfields expansion," the report said.
It said it had identified a superior development option at the Cadia East ore body and had demonstrated the viability of mine and mill expansions at Hidden Valley in Papua New Guinea.
The report said the achieved gold price was $1,352 per ounce in the three months ending March 31, up 13 per cent on the previous quarter.
More than 162,000 ounces of gold were produced at the Telfer mine in Western Australia's Pilbara region, Newcrest's most productive gold mine, up 23.76 per cent on the corresponding time last year.
"Gold and copper production (at Telfer) increased due to an increase in the mill throughput rate," the company said.
But gold production at the Cadia Valley site in NSW was down 44.77 per cent year-on-year to about 107,000 ounces, reflecting lower grades and recoveries, the company said.
Smaller gold production came from the Gosowong mine in Indonesia and Cracow in Queensland.
Most copper produced by Newcrest came from Cadia Valley, at nearly 14.7 tonnes, down 2.3 per cent on the corresponding period last year.
"Exploration activities were ongoing at all operating mines and projects in WA, Queensland, NSW, Indonesia, PNG and Fiji," the company said.
