South African gold production falls 9.3% in Q2

The year-on-year decline comes on the back of lower production in 2008 as a result of power cuts.

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) -

South Africa's gold output fell 9.3% year-on-year in the second quarter of 2009, despite being measured against lower gold production in the same period last year when output fell due to a power shortage.

South Africa's Chamber of Mines said in a statement on Tuesday production rose 0.4% quarter-on-quarter to 51,634 kg in the second quarter of 2009 compared with the first quarter of the year.

The Chamber of Mines said it had revised upwards production numbers for the last quarter of 2008, for 2008 as a whole and for the first quarter of 2009.

For the fourth quarter of 2008, the output was revised to 55,665.5 kg from 55,241.5, while for 2008, production was revised to 220,551.3 kg from 220,127.3 kg.

For the first quarter of 2009, output was revised to 51,411.4 kg from 49,713.6 kg.

South Africa's overall gold output in 2008 fell to its lowest level in 86 years due to the power shortage and dwindling grades, which lowered it to the world's number three producer behind China and the United States.

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