Lihir produced 245,973 ounces of gold in the June quarter, with all-in sustaining costs falling by another 6% to $US754 an ounce.

The operation achieved a record 12.1 million tonne throughput for the year, producing 900,034oz gold at AISC of $830/oz, 28% lower than the 2015 financial year.

Overall, Newcrest posted a 6% drop in gold production for the June quarter to 598,000oz, due to lower grades at Cadia and the suspension of Gosowong for part of the period.

Group AISC increased by 8.9% to $787/oz, but an improvement in the gold price saw the AISC margin rise by 2.2% to $468/oz.

Full-year group production was 2.4 million ounces of gold, up 0.7% and within guidance of 2.4-2.6Moz.

AISC were down by 2.3% to $762/oz, while the margin decreased by 8.4% to $404/oz.

Copper production fell 14.2% to 83,000 tonnes.

Newcrest lowered net debt by 27% to $2.1 billion over the year.

“We have delivered a solid performance considering the challenges we have experienced at some sites,” Newcrest managing director and CEO Sandeep Biswas said.

“The 27% reduction in net debt reflects our focus on cash generation. We look forward to safely building upon this performance with the continued ramp up of Cadia East and our ongoing operational improvements at Lihir.”

Newcrest will reveal guidance for FY17 when it releases its full-year results next month.

Shares in Newcrest dropped 2.9% to $A23.35.