Bloomberg
Gold Output in Australia May Gain 10% Next Year, Bureau Says March 01, 2010, 4:22 PM EST
By Rebecca Keenan
March 2 (Bloomberg) -- Australia, the world’s second- largest gold producer, may produce 10 percent more of the precious metal next fiscal year as Newmont Mining Corp. increases output at its Boddington mine.
Production may be 267 metric tons in the 12 months ending June 30, 2011, the Canberra-based Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics said today in a report. Output may increase 2 percent the following year, it said.
“The ramp-up of the Boddington redevelopment is expected to be the largest contributor to this growth,” the bureau said.
Gold’s fourfold rally since the end of 2000 has prompted Newmont and rivals including Newcrest Mining Ltd. and AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. to boost output. Australia’s production may stay between 266 tons and 276 tons through to 2015, the bureau said.
Gold for immediate delivery closed at $1,117.60 an ounce Feb. 26. It has gained 1.9 percent this year.
The global economic recovery may cut investment demand for gold and the price in 2011 may fall by 11 percent to $960 an ounce from a forecast for this year of $1,080, the bureau said.
Stronger export volumes that year are projected to result in the value of Australian gold exports rising to A$16.7 billion ($15 billion) in 2010-11, it said.
Copper Prices
Australia surpassed the U.S. as the second-biggest producer of the metal in the first half of last year, research group Surbiton Associates Pty said in November.
The copper price may average $7,080 a ton this year, up 40 percent on last year’s average, the bureau said. Prices may peak at around $7,780 a ton in 2012 as demand exceeds supply and stocks decline. By 2015, they may average $6,600 a ton, it said.
The value of copper exports from Australia may rise 9.6 percent to A$6.8 billion next fiscal year, the bureau said. Australia’s production of the metal, used to make pipes, may gain 9.1 percent to 971,000 metric tons next year, it said.
Alumina export earnings may rise 24 percent to A$5.7 billion as output increases, the bureau said. BHP Billiton Ltd. is expected to complete an expansion of the Worsley refinery in Western Australia next year and Rio Tinto Group’s expansion of the Yarwun refinery in Queensland will more than double its output by 2012.
The value of nickel exports may rise to A$3.5 billion in the year ending June 30, 2011, up from a forecast A$3 billion this fiscal year, because of higher prices, it said. Australia’s export volumes may rise 2 percent to 180,000 tons next year.
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Gold Output in Australia May Gain 10% Next Year, Bureau Says - BusinessWeek 
