Newcrest Mining Ltd, the largest listed gold miner in Australia, said today that the gold output was reported down by 6% in the third quarter. The gold producer also reduced its guidance for the full year.

The company said that lower than expected gold output was mainly attributable to the longer than expected start up of its Hidden Valley mine in Papua New Guinea.

The miner also blamed the less rich ores at its flagship Telfer deposit in Australia for the weak performance in the third quarter. Newcrest Mining, the biggest gold producer in Australia, announced today that the gold production was reported of 416651 ounces in the third quarter ended March 2010.

The production was reported down by 6% comparing to 442333 ounces reported in the previous quarter ended December 2009. The third quarter gold output was also below the expectations of the market analysts as they anticipated production of between 430000 and 450000 ounces in the period.

Newcrest said that the production was reported in line with expectations at all its operations except the Hidden Valley project in Papua New Guinea. The company said that the ongoing commissioning issues in Hidden Valley project caused the lower production in the third quarter.

Newcrest also reduced its guidance for the financial year 2010. The company said that now it is expecting total gold production of 1.81 to 1.91 million ounces for the 2010 financial year. Newcrest also lowered its production guidance from Hidden Valley project to between 65 000 ounces and 75 000 ounces.