MELBOURNE – Australia's top gold miner, Newcrest Mining, expects output to grow in the coming months as its flagship site gradually ramps up after operations there were hit by an earthquake last year, its chief executive said on Friday.

That comes a day after the company reported a 58% slide in underlying profits to $116-million in the six months to December 31 from the previous half-year, missing analyst forecasts.

"Production (is) expected to be stronger in the second-half of the financial year," CEO Sandeep Biswas told a media briefing.

"As a result, we are on track to deliver on our production, costs and capital guidance."

The company has been gradually restarting output at its Cadia mine in southeastern Australia, which was closed by a minor earthquake last April.

Newcrest maintained its production estimate of 2.4-million to 2.7-million ounces of gold and 80 000 t to 90 000 t of copper in the year to June, 2018. It also announced an interim dividend of 7.5c a share, the same as last year.

Biswas added that the firm had funneled capital into a turnaround plan at its loss-making Telfer mine in the state of Western Australia, installing new management and exploring for new lodes underground.

He also said the miner was in regular talks with the Indonesian government regarding its contract of work (COW) for its Gosowong mine which runs out in 2029. Indonesia has been renegotiating with miners to obtain a higher equity stake in their operations.

"We're sitting down in good faith with the government and we'll talk it through ... if the case is, in the end, there has to be a selldown to a certain number, as long as it's done at fair value then that's something we'll address at the time."

Shares in Newcrest had dropped 3.4% to A$22.26 by 01:03 GMT, and were the worst performer in a weaker mining sector on the Australian stock exchange.

The company's $116-million profit in the last half was below a forecast of $143-million based on the average of three estimates in a poll of analysts. Operations were also hit by unplanned maintenance at Newcrest's Papua New Guinea mine.

The firm said on Thursday that its cost of production on an "all-in sustaining basis" ticked up about 12%, reflecting the lower volume contribution from Cadia.

"This feels very much like an 'on the right track' result for us, with the numbers broadly as we anticipated and outlook commentary also reiterating our current understanding of future output and ongoing technical studies," RBC said in a report.