Gold production in Australia has undergone a significant boost in the past financial quarter, with companies registering production rate rises of 6 per cent.

An actual weight of sixty-seven tonnes of one of history’s most sought-after metals has been exhumed from the earth between June and September this year, the upturn has been partly attributed to the processing of some higher-grade stock.

Mining consultant Dr Sandra Close says the industry is pleased but was expecting the return to high-grade material.

“Yes, it was really quite good news for this quarter ... about 5 per cent more than the June quarter last year, so pretty good news,” she said, “we weren't at all surprised by the higher output of the June quarter... we felt that there would be higher ore grades being mined and that was in fact one of the things that did happen.”

Boddington, Superpit and Telfer are the top gold producers for the 2012-2013 financial year – all three are located in Western Australia.