Newcrest said the revised plan was part of its desire to find growth through low-cost operations.
Newcrest Mining believes it can build one of the world's lowest-cost gold mines at Wafi-Golpu in Papua New Guinea for $US2.5 billion ($3 billion) less than previously thought under a smaller, revised plan announced on Monday.
The new phased approach would cost a total of $US2.3 billion to build, and would deliver a mine that was strongly profitable on the contained copper alone, and even more profitable once gold sales are considered.
As a 50 per cent owner of the asset, Newcrest would be liable for no more than half the $US2.3 billion construction costs, with South African miner Harmony Gold set to provide the remainder.
Newcrest's spending on the project could yet fall to 35 per cent of the total cost, depending on whether the local government chooses to take up its option for a 30 per cent stake in the mine.
The study published on Monday suggested the first stage of the mine could produce as much as 320,000 ounces of gold a year and 150,000 tonnes of copper a year, starting in 2020.
That approach compares to the previous, more ambitious, more expensive development plan discussed in 2012, which would have cost $US4.8 billion to build and delivered as much as 400,000 ounces of gold annually and 250,000 tonnes of copper.
The new approach would have a total sustaining cost of "negative $US1685 an ounce after copper credits", meaning the mine would be smaller but lower-cost than Newcrest's flagship Cadia precinct.
Cadia produced 592,832 ounces of gold in the 2014 financial year, at the super low cost of $A326 an ounce.
Newcrest chief executive Sandeep Biswas said the board had approved for the new plan to undergo one year or more rigorous feasibility studies, and the plan was part of the company's desire to find growth through low-cost operations.
"By targeting the high value core of the ore body first, we have increased the economic returns from the mine by being cash-flow positive earlier in the life of the mine as well as funding the infrastructure that will support future stages of ore extraction and processing," he said.
The mine at Wafi-Golpu is expected to involve two "block cave" operations, similar to those at Cadia.
