In total, 1.69 million ounces were extracted during the March 2009 quarter, 78% of it in the largest 20 mines, each of which produced at least 25,000 ounces this quarter.
The following chart shows the production for the top 12 mines in Australia:
The Boddington operation will probably top this chart once it starts production later this year. It is expected to produce approximately 250,000 ounces per quarter.
As for production by company, the concentration is significantly larger, 80% of all gold extracted in Australia is done so by the top 10 companies.
January - March 2009 Attributable Production:
Up to 30 other companies are in involved in the extraction of the remaining 20% of production.
Again here, once Boddington starts production, we will see Newmont (100% ownership) topping the list.
As for costs, Australian mines generally have high cash costs. Only 13 mines have a cash cost below the world median total cash cost for gold mines of US$430/oz. Median total cash cost for Australian mines was US$534/oz for the January -March 2009 quarter:
and expect to see even higher total cash costs next quarter as the Australian dollar has climbed up to 30% against the US currency in the last 3 months.
Despite this, and thanks to the high price of gold (US$940 on Friday), the vast majority of the Australian mines will remain cash flow positive over the nex two quarters.
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