The original guidance was closer to 3Moz gold but Newcrest was forced to downgrade forecasts twice due to a power failure at Lihir Island in Papua New Guinea, civil unrest at Bonikro in Ivory Coast and wet weather across other operations.

Full-year production was just over 2.7Moz at cash costs of $A493 an ounce, including quarterly production for June of 700,124 ounces of gold at cash costs of $542/oz.

June quarter production represented a 16% rise on the previous quarter and was close to Macquarie Private Wealth’s estimates of 703,000oz gold at cash costs of $781/oz.

Macquarie had flagged higher cash costs at the Bonikro mine in Ivory Coast due to the suspension of production at the mine, but actual costs came in at $1440/oz, around half of Macquarie’s estimate.

Newcrest’s annual production also included 75,631t of copper and 1.9Moz silver.

It said all sites had returned to full production, except Lihir Island and Hidden Valley in PNG where minor disruptions continued.

Lihir produced 182,536oz gold at $404/oz for the June quarter and 790,974oz at $419/oz for the year.

During the quarter, Newcrest commissioned a 70 megawatt barge-mounted power station in Thailand as part of the Lihir upgrade to 1Moz.

The barge is being prepared for shipment to site for delivery in September and it is expected to begin power supply to the site in the December quarter.

The expansion is expected to be completed by the end of next year.

At Telfer in Western Australia, quarterly gold production jumped 20% to 153,798oz gold and 7786t copper at cash costs of $954/oz, due to a higher gold feed grade.

The operation produced 621,291oz gold and 191,409t copper at cash costs of $674/oz for the year.

Cadia Valley in New South Wales produced 151,251oz gold and 12,341t copper at cash costs of $309/oz in the June quarter.

Gold production jumped 27% and copper production increased by 3% due to a higher gold feed grades, which was partially offset by lower mill throughput.

The company said the $1.9 billion Cadia East project was on track with $1.6 billion committed and ramp-up on scheduled for next year.

Meanwhile, production at the company’s 82.5%-owned Gosowong project in Indonesia came in at 136,343oz gold at cash costs of $299/oz for the quarter and 463,218oz at cash costs of $329/oz for the year.

Quarterly production was up 25% on record mill throughput and higher grades and recoveries.

A second underground mine and open pit is due to get underway in the current financial year.

The Hidden Valley mine in PNG, of which Newcrest holds 50%, produced 26,552oz gold and 197,860oz silver at cash costs of $1053/oz for the quarter, with costs up due to increased haulage costs.

For the year, the mine produced 100,232oz gold and 673,031oz silver at cash costs of $1010/oz.

Newcrest expects the overland conveyer to be fully repaired and operational by the end of September after a belt failure in March.

Bonikro returned to full production last month but delivered just 9866oz at cash costs of $1450/oz for the quarter, and 49,940oz at cash costs of $1236/oz for the year.

Queensland operations Mt Rawdon and Cracow produced 22,277oz at cash costs of $686/oz and 17,501oz at cash costs of $811/oz respectively.

For the year, Mt Rawdon produced 89,636oz at $693/oz while Cracow delivered 71,206oz at $658/oz.

Newcrest is planning to sell the mines to a merged Catalpa Resources and Conquest Mining in exchange for a 33% stake in the new company, with the deal to be completed in October.

Former chief financial officer Greg Robinson started as managing director and chief executive officer on July1, replacing Ian Smith, who resigned after five years in the top job.

The company is still searching for a new CFO.

Newcrest will release its financial results on August 15.

Shares in Newcrest were last trading 20c higher to $41.01.