TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Senior gold miner Goldcorp late on Wednesday said it aimed to lift gold output by about 50% over the next two years to about four-million ounces as new projects came on line.

The TSX- and NYSE-listed firm said it expected new projects to make significant contributions to its forecast gold production growth, with first gold production expected from Cerro Negro, in Argentina, by mid-2014; from Éléonore, in James Bay, Canada, by the fourth quarter of 2014; and Cochenour, in Ontario, also by the fourth quarter.

The company also expected silver output to grow at a brisk rate, with 2014 production expected to total between 34-million and 36-million ounces, including about 22-million to 25-million ounces from Peñasquito, in Mexico.

Goldcorp announced that gold output in the quarter ended December 31 totalled 767 700 oz, resulting in 2013 full-year gold production topping 2.67-million ounces, up 11% on that produced in 2012.

For this year, the miner expected gold output to grow by between 13% and 18% to between 3-million and 3.15-million ounces. The company said higher gold output would be driven mainly by rising grades at Peñasquito, as mining progressed deeper into the openpit, as well as through the continued ramp-up at Pueblo Viejo, in the Dominican Republic.

However, the company also revealed a reduction in Peñasquito’s expected mine life from 19 years to 13 years, owing to the final two phases of the previous ultimate pit and lower-grade mineralised material that would not be mined or processed under current operational assumptions.

Cash costs for 2014 were likely to range between $950/oz and $1 000/oz of gold, compared with the 2013 average of between $885/oz and $1 065/oz.

Zinc output was slated to range between 315-million and 325-million pounds and lead production between 135-million and 145-million pounds. Copper output was expected to range between 88-million and 93-million pounds.

Goldcorp’s TSX-listed shares rose C$0.44 apiece on Thursday to close at C$24.31.