GOLD producer Newcrest Mining has unveiled an increased underlying profit of $280m for the six-month period ended December 2019, although gold production for the period was 12pc lower compared with the second half of 2018.
Higher realised gold prices, and the favourable impact on its Australian operations from a weaker Australian dollar to US dollar exchange rate, contributed to the increased profit for the half year period.
In the July-December 2019 period Newcrest produced 1.1moz of gold at an all-in sustaining cost of $880/oz, up from $747/oz for the year ago period.
This represents an all-in sustaining cost margin of $566/oz for the December 2019-ended half year, up from $481/oz for the corresponding 2018 period.
Newcrest managing director and chief executive Sandeep Biswas said the company had invested in several acquisitions during the half-year.
These acquisitions included a 70pc stake in the Red Chris mine in Canada with a potential tier-one ore body, and its increased investment in Lundin Gold, owner of the Fruta del Norte mine in Ecuador.
“The first half of the [2020] financial year was one in which we invested for the future,” Mr Biswas said.
