(Reuters) - Newcrest Mining Ltd <NCM.AX> said on Friday annual output at its Cadia mine will be lower than fiscal 2019 after it posted a 22.2% increase in annual profit on the back of robust gold and copper sales volumes at the flagship mine in New South Wales.
The company posted an underlying profit of $561 million for the full year ended June 30 compared with $459 million a year earlier, also benefiting from a weaker Australian dollar and record low costs at Cadia.
However, due to lower grade of ore mined at Cadia and maintenance activity at one of its mills, the miner said gold output from the mine will be between 760,000 ounces and 840,000 ounces for 2020, below 912,777 ounces it produced in 2019.
The cut in production from Cadia mine led the company to keep its overall gold production for fiscal 2020 largely unchanged at between 2.35 million ounces (moz) to 2.50 moz compared with 2019.
Newcrest expects the total capital expenditure for 2020 at between $680 million and $780 million, slightly higher than its full year 2019 spend.
For the full year, total revenue came in at $3.74 billion, up from $3.56 billion last year.
The Melbourne-based company declared a final dividend of 14.5 cents per share, up from 11 cents a year earlier.
Newcrest's share price has climbed 68.7% so far this year, benefiting from rising gold prices <XAU=> during the period, backed by strong demand for the safe haven metal amid rising trade tensions and worries over global growth.
(Reporting by Rashmi Ashok in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel and Arun Koyyur)
