Australia's Newcrest Mining NCM.AX said on Wednesday gold production fell 2.8% in the second quarter from the first, hurt by lower mill throughput at a Papua New Guinea mine and temporary suspension of operations at a plant in Canada. Australia's largest gold miner said drought conditions due to the La Niña weather pattern limited water supply to the Lihir mine in Papua New Guinea, hurting gold production. Unplanned downtime at the plant also hurt output. Additionally, a fatality at the Brucejack mine in Canada resulted in suspension of operations for about three weeks in October. The gold miners expects gold pr ... (full story)