By Jason Scott March 15 (Bloomberg) -- Newmont Mining Corp., the largest U.S. gold producer, said its Boddington mine in Western Australia is performing above expectations with full capacity expected by late this year. “Our recoveries of both copper and gold have been above design expectations,” said Philip Stephenson, Newmont’s regional group executive of operations in the Asia Pacific. “The ramp up continues in earnest.” Chief Executive Officer Richard O’Brien is boosting output at Boddington to benefit from bullion prices that reached a record $1,227.50 an ounce in December. The project, opened Feb. 3, will be Australia’s largest gold mine once it reaches full annual capacity of 1 million ounces. “We’re seeing days now where we’re pushing in excess of 100,000 tons per day through the processing plant,” Stephenson told delegates today at a conference in Perth. “Our challenge over the next couple of months is to start doing that consistently on a day in, day out basis.” Shares in Greenwood Village, Colorado-based Newmont, fell 0.8 percent to close at $50.04 on March 12 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The shares have gained 5.8 percent this year. Newmont completed its acquisition of the one-third stake in the Boddington project it didn’t already own from AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. in June and started production there in September. Last week, gold in New York fell to its biggest weekly loss in seven weeks, on speculation that China will raise interest rates to control inflation, reducing demand for raw materials including precious metals. Newmont is “quietly confident” the gold price will rise this year, Stephenson said. Exchange traded funds’ demand has leveled off, with jewelry demand down 8 percent in the December quarter from the year before and scrap metal supply rising, he said. To contact the reporter on this story: Jason Scott in Perth at Jscott14@bloomberg.net

Source