Newmont Indonesia unit sees lower copper, gold output

US mining group Newmont Mining Corp said on Thursday that copper and gold output from its Indonesian unit may be lower this year because it is mining lower grade ores.
PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara, which operates the Batu Hijau copper and gold mine in Sumbawa, eastern Indonesia, expects to produce 345-365 million pounds of copper ore this year, a fall of around 22 percent from 453 million pounds in 2007, Rubi Purnomo, the company's spokesman, said.
The company expects to produce 330,000-365,000 ounces of gold ore this year, about 33 percent lower than 518,000 ounces in 2007, Rubi said. "We are mining in a different part of the pit that has lower grade ore than the ore we were mining in 2007," Rubi said. "It is part of the normal cycle in mining operations for the type of ore we have in Batu Hijau."