Australia’s Newcrest reviewing high-cost gold operations

Australia’s Newcrest Mining Ltd. (ASX: NCM) plans to review all its business activities especially those with higher costs for gold production, the company said in its released 2013 first quarter report.

The decline in commodity prices plus a reduction in the strength of the currency in Australia and Papau New Guinea has made it a challenging business environment for the company.

Newcrest also cut about 150 jobs from its Melbourne and Brisbane offices.

Its gold production guidance for the 2012/13 year is 2 to 2.15 million ounces.

The quarterly report showed 514,421 ounces of gold production with 19,023 tonnes of copper. This was a 4.44% increase from the last 2012 quarter for the yellow metal but a 4.5% decline for the red metal.

Newcrest is the world’s seventh largest gold producer and the largest in Australia.

Image courtesy Newcrest