Wet weather has contributed to a reduction in Australian gold production at the start of 2012, a new report says.
Australian gold output fell by three tonnes to 62 tonnes in the three months to March 31, 2012, according to a report from industry consultants Surbiton Associates released on Sunday.
The result was down four per cent compared with the previous corresponding period and was the third straight quarter of falling gold production.
However, the new or redeveloped gold mining operations due to start later this year should help boost production, the report said.
New NZ mine in development
The budding Waikaia Gold project is getting ready to start production in early 2013, Alex Fensome at the Southland Times reports.
It plans to extract at least NZ$40 million dollars worth, or 20,000 ounces of gold from the floodplain of the Waikaia River, about halfway between Gore and Queenstown in the middle of Southland.
Approvals from the Southland District Council for the venture were received earlier this year. Director Warren Batt said the gold plant was being designed and built by engineers in Greymouth and Nelson.
"We are making steady progress - we expect to be on the ground in October, in spring, and we'd expect to be commencing full-scale production in the first quarter of next year," Batt said.
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