Abare: Australia 09-10 Gold Output Expected +15% To 251 Tons

Australia's gold production is expected to rise by 15% to 251 metric tons during the 2009-10 fiscal year starting July 1, the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics said Tuesday.

That's up from Abare's last quarterly forecast, when the agency expected output to rise by 9%.

Export revenue from gold is forecast to set another record high this year, expected up 1% at A$16.4 billion, after rallying 48% during 2008-09 to A$16.1 billion, supported by a high Australian dollar.

That was despite Australian gold output falling 5% to 218 tons.

More than half of the strong gold output growth for the current financial year will come from Newmont Mining Corp.'s (NEM) newly commissioned Boddington mine in Western Australia state, which has a capacity of 30 tons of gold annually.

A number of medium-sized operations are expected to reach full capacity in 2009-10, such as OZ Minerals Ltd.'s (OZL.AU) copper-gold mine at Prominent Hill in South Australia state.

-By Elisabeth Behrmann, Dow Jones Newswires;

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