By Stuart Condie

SYDNEY--Newcrest Mining Ltd. said it has approved capital projects worth 236 million Australian dollars (US$169.1 million), including stage two of the expansion of its Cadia mine in eastern Australia.

Australia's largest gold miner by market capitalization on Friday said its board has approved the addition of equipment to one of the concentrators and upgrades to another at Cadia in New South Wales state. Newcrest expects the project to increase life-of-mine gold recoveries by 3.5% and copper recoveries by 2.7%, while reducing all-in-sustaining-cost by an estimated A$22 per ounce.

The Cadia expansion will cost A$175 million, compared with a previous estimate of A$180 million, Newcrest said in a filing to the Australian Securities Exchange.

The firm said it will also spend A$61 million to improve grinding classification and reduce gold losses through the flotation circuit at its Lihir operation in Papua New Guinea. Gold recoveries are projected to rise by 1.2% over the life of the mine, Newcrest said.

Write to Stuart Condie at stuart.condie@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

10-08-20 1807ET