Newmont Mining cuts copper forecasts, gold unchanged

Newmont Mining has cut its copper forecast for the year from about 170 million pounds to about 145 million pounds.

Newmont – one of the biggest gold producers in the world – revised its copper forecast due to lower than expected output at its Boddington mine in Australia and lower than expected ore grade processed at Batu Hijau in Indonesia.

Boddington saw a 6% drop in production in Q3 2013 compared to the same period last year – a 3% decrease in copper output for the company as a whole, according to preliminary quarterly production and sales results released on Thursday.

Copper sales were down 5% in Q2 2013 versus Q2 2012 levels.

Meanwhile, total gold sales for the same period rose by 4%.

The company’s gold output forecast remains unchanged at 4.8 to 5.1 million ounces.

Newmont will release third quarter 2013 results at the end of the month.