Gold production by Newcrest Mining Ltd. (NCM.AU) this year will be up to 4.4% below previous forecasts, the gold miner said Tuesday, after rain events in Australia and Papua New Guinea and unrest in Ivory Coast cut output from three of the company's key sites.

The world's third-largest gold miner by market capitalisation, after Canada's Barrick Gold Corp. (ABX) and Newmont Mining Corp. (NEM), said that excess rainfall in eastern Australia had hit production from its massive Cadia Valley operations while drought north of Papua New Guinea limited supplies of fresh water for its Lihir Island mine.

Meanwhile, work was still halted at its Bonikro mine in Ivory Coast as a result of the country's post-election violence, which last week resulted in the arrest of former president Laurent Gbagbo, who had refused to cede power to his opponent.

Newcrest said that output in the first three months of the year came to 604,791 troy ounces of gold, 16% down on the previous quarter, while copper production rose 13% to 20,098 metric tons.

Cash costs rose to A$497/oz from A$440/oz in the previous quarter.

-By David Fickling, Dow Jones Newswires; +61 2 8272 4689; david.fickling@dowjones.com
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