Australia's biggest gold producer is confronting global and internal challenges as it pushes to take advantage of economic change.
Newcrest Mining CEO Sandeep Biswas told shareholders on Wednesday the company has faced inflationary pressures, labour shortages, floods, and supply chain bottlenecks since the last annual general meeting.
He said the company has put in place long-term and fixed price contracts for maintenance, fuel and energy to control rising operating costs.
"It means we expect to contain cost growth to a range of around six per cent to eight per cent for the 2023 financial year," he said.
Newcrest also intends to mine more copper to benefit from surging global demand for minerals critical to building renewable energy systems.
"Having a real, meaningful exposure to copper is vital to having a strong gold company," Newcrest Mining chair Peter Tomsett reiterated.
In the last financial year, copper accounted for a quarter of Newcrest's revenue, up from 22 per cent a year earlier.
A drilling program is underway at the Havieron project in the resource-rich Paterson Province of Western Australia, but Mr Biswas did not detail a timeline for the feasibility study to be completed.
Newcrest recently suspended mining and processing operations at the Brucejack mine in British Columbia, Canada, after a fatality and is working with authorities to investigate the incident.
"It happened about two weeks ago but the grief continues," Mr Tomsett said.
Mr Biswas said Brucejack remains shut down and Newcrest will also conduct its own independent investigation until all risks are controlled or eliminated.
The Australian mining industry has faced a WA parliament inquiry into mines being unsafe for women, and in response Newcrest established a dedicated Respect At Work team.
Mr Biswas said the stories highlighting the prevalence of sexual assault and harassment in the mining industry have been "deeply disturbing".
"For Newcrest, zero is the only acceptable number of such incidents," he said.
During FY22, the proportion of women in Newcrest's global workforce rose from 15.6 per cent to 16.5 per cent and he said the graduate program has received a record number of female applicants.
Newcrest disclosed to the ASX on Tuesday it will invest $US150 million to extend operations at the Telfer copper-gold mine into early FY25, with the new cutback at West Dome expected to start producing in the current quarter.
