South Africa Gold Production Declines Sharply

South Africa’s gold production has dropped still further, this time by 15% to 43,927.8 kg or 1.41 million ounces, in the first quarter of 2010.  The SA Chamber of Mines has released stats showing gold production in SA has dropped to new lows – just as the gold price climbs to new highs.

THE continued decline in SA’s gold production last year saw the country slip further down the global rankings, according to figures released on Friday by the Chamber of Mines.

SA slipped to fourth position on the global production ranking last year, behind China, Australia and the US, after gold produced fell 5,8% to 204922,8kg compared with 217648,5kg in 2008. SA was the world’s largest gold producer for most of the past century, until 2006, when it was overtaken by China.