Cagey Newcrest baulks at Havieron gold price tag

Australia’s biggest gold miner will snap a three-year streak of declining gold production and has surprised expectations by declining an option to buy more of Western Australia’s Havieron gold project.

Newcrest Mining vowed to raise gold production by at least 8 per cent to between 2.1 million and 2.4 million ounces of gold in the year ahead after announcing a $US872 million full-year profit.