Oceana Gold has formally moved to include gold and copper production from its newly commissioned northern Philippines mine on its balance sheet.
As of April 1, all gold and copper production revenues and operating costs from the Didipio mine on the island of Luzon will be reported in Oceana's future income statements.
This calendar year, all Oceana operations combined are forecast to deliver between 285,000 and 325,000 ounces of gold, at a production cash cost of between $US650 and $US800 ($NZ801 and $NZ986) an ounce, which includes credits, offsetting production costs, from mining and selling copper.
The addition of the copper offsets are expected to soften the blow of a decline in the global spot gold price and rising production costs for Oceana, factors which are scouring profit margins for all gold producers.
So far, Didipio has produced more than 22,000 tonnes of copper and gold concentrate, and delivered its first export last month.
The growth prospects of two of the world's largest miners, BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto, were placed ''under review'' on Friday by Morningstar Research, because of the decline in commodity prices. Both could expect to see a share price fair value estimate decline by 20% to 25%, Morningstar said.
From a share price year-high of $4.50 in late October, Oceana's shares had since declined, reflecting a tumble in global spot gold prices, by 50%, to trade around $2.19 yesterday.
Oceana gave guidance that Didipio is expected to deliver between 50,000 and 70,000 oz of gold this year and 15,000 to 18,000 tonnes of copper. New Zealand operations in the South Island, at Macraes in Otago and Reefton, on the West Coast, are expected to contribute 235,000 to 255,000 oz of gold.
Didipio is forecast to annually produce 100,000 oz of gold and 14,000 tonnes of copper during its estimated 16-year mine life.
