Extreme weather conditions in September that brought about heavy rains in areas surrounding its mines had slashed by 20 percent the gold production of Newcrest Mining Ltd., Australia's largest gold mining company.

The company said in a statement gold output plunged to 579,073 ounces in the three months ended Dec. 31, versus 722,783 ounces a year ago, triggered by heavy rains in its Lihir mine in Papua New Guinea and a ground fall at an open-pit mine in its Australia mine at Cadia Hill in New South Wales in November.

It likewise reported a yield of 18,171 metric tonnes of copper as against 17,712 tonnes made last year.

The latest figures prompted Newcrest Mining Ltd., the world's no.3 gold producer, to relay its full year gold production could slide 5 per cent to 10 per cent. The Australian gold miner said it expects gold output for the year to June 2012 to drop between 2.43 million ounces and 2.55 million ounces, from 2.7 million ounces a year earlier, while copper production, a by-product of gold, will remain at 75,000 tonnes to 85,000 tonnes.

Last month, Newcrest Mining Ltd. lowered its fiscal year forecast, down by 6 per cent, following the unexpected operation halt at the Cadia Hill mine.

Meanwhile, Newcrest Mining Ltd. announced plans of listing on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) by March.

It noted an application for a secondary listing with the TSX had been filed in December.

Newcrest Mining Ltd. shares dropped 0.7 per cent to A$32.20 on Monday, taking their slide in the past year to 13 per cent, according to Bloomberg.

Newcrest Mining Ltd. is Australia's largest gold producer and one of the world's top 1n gold mining companies by production, reserves and market capitalization. It has eight operating mines, including Cadia Valley Operations composed of Cadia Hill and Ridgeway in NSW, Telfer Open Pit and Telfer Underground in the Pilbara Region of WA, Lihir and Hidden Valley in Papua New Guinea, and Bonikro in West Africa.

As of end June 2011, its boasts of an 80.0 Moz gold reserves and copper reserves of 8.36 Mt, as well as gold resources of 147.5 Moz and copper resources of 19.9 Mt.