Newcrest Mining again pared down its overall production guidelines for the current financial year following the company's earlier output cutbacks in February, further highlighting the difficulties that hit the miner's global operations.

The Melbourne-based miner said on Tuesday that its gold harvest will only reach between 2.25 million and 2.35 million ounces once the financial year 2011-2012 ends in June while its copper production will only yield a high of 75,000 tonnes, also within the same period.

The production downward revisions immediately spurred negative reactions from the market, with Reuters reporting that Newcrest shares retreated by up to 4.6 per cent as of Tuesday's opening.

The company attributed the production target reduction to natural and production challenges that disrupted its key operations in Australia, Indonesia, Ivory Coast and Papua New Guinea.

Newcrest, according to The Australian, maintains eight mining operations the world over, with Lihir proving as the firm's headache for now following its acquisition that was only finalised in 2010.

"The big problem around this downgrade is doubts around the quality of its Lihir acquisition. Acquisitions are always difficult and Lihir had a history of burning cash but the hope was that the worst was behind it and Newcrest would bring about better days," City Index chief analyst Peter Esho told the publication on Tuesday.

In the prior financial year, Newcrest reported a total gold output of 2.7 million ounces, with the company assuming the gold harvest realised by Lihir in the same period, at a purchase price of more than $9 billion.

Newcrest then projected a rise of more than 2.9 million ounces on its output in the following quarter, only to report a production downgrade by the end of the year.

Investors were again rattled February this year by Newcrest's admission that production would likely reach between 2.43 million to 2.55 million, deviating from the December forecast that the miner had flagged in December 2011.

And now on its latest report, Newcrest revealed that its gold production shrunk by eight percent to 532,237 ounces though its profit margins with the market buying the precious metal at $978 per ounce.

Newcrest spends $609 per ounce to harvest and process gold to its marketable form, Reuters said.

The new report also underscored Newcrest pressing issues on its Cadia Valley and Lihir operations, with the former's open pit mining hampered by heavy rains from January though March.

Production glitches also hampered activities in Lihir, Newcrest said, as the Papua New Guinea mine failed to hit its output target of between 65,000 to 75,000 ounces per month, which was set in the February guidelines revision.

"We now expect production to continue at around 50,000 to 60,000 ounces per month for the remainder of the financial year," Newcrest was quoted by Reuters as saying on its report in again pushing back the production capability of Lihir.

Prior to the downgrade and to the Lihir integration, Newcrest, according to Mr Esho, "was trading on a 2012 price to earnings ratio of around 17 times."

The latest adjustments, he added, "downgrade might not sound like much on face value but Newcrest is a stock that trades on a very high earnings multiple, with a gold premium built in."

Newcrest, Mr Esho said, is now in process of realising that multi-billion dollar investments must be priced for perfection.