Thursday, January 15, 2009

SA Gold Production Slides

South African gold production fell 8.7 percent year-on-year in November last year, preliminary mine production and sales figures released by Statistics South Africa revealed on Thursday.

Non-gold production declined 5.7 percent from November 2007, resulting in a 6.1 percent fall in total mining production during the month. This decrease was largely due to negative contributions from gold, diamonds and coal.

Total mining production for the three months ended November 2008 decreased by 2.2 percent compared with the three months ended November 2007.

After seasonal adjustment, total mining production for the three months to end November 2008 increased by 6.1 percent compared with the previous three months mainly due to increased production of platinum group metals.

With regards to mineral sales, Stats SA said the actual estimated total value of mineral sales at current prices climbed 40 percent to R26.19-billion in October 2008 compared with the same month in 2007.

Gold sales were 33 percent higher at R4.47-billion while non-gold sales rose 41.5 percent to R21.72-billion during the month of October.

Total mineral sales for the three months to the end of October 2008 increased by 43.5 percent compared to the same three months of 2007.

Major contributors to this year-on-year increase were coal, manganese ore and PGMs.

The total seasonally-adjusted value of mineral sales at current prices for the three months ended October 2008 reflected an increase of 0.7 percent compared with the previous three months.

This increase of 0.7 percent can be largely attributed to an increase of 1.2 percent in non-gold mineral sales.

Source: Business Report

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