JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – South Africa’s mining production for October decreased by 8,5%, compared with the same month in 2008, official statistics showed on Thursday.

Copper production decreased by 32,9% year-on-year, while diamond production plunged by 43,4%. Gold production dropped by 5,8%, when compared with October 2008, while chrome output fell 20,1% and platinum group metals (PGMs) production dropped by 19,3%.

However, during the same period, nickel production was up by 23,6% and iron-ore production was up by 9,6%.

Fund manager Vestact director Sasha Naryshkine said that output achieved during October, were closer to “normalised levels”, as the high production levels in 2008 had been mainly driven by soaring commodity prices.

He added that while South Africa had dropped to fourth place in the list of the world’s top gold producers, and was facing increasingly difficult to reach gold resources, the country remained the world’s top PGM producer.

“You see the importance of PGMs and iron-ore, and it is becoming increasingly important in South Africa’s makeup.”

South Africa recently slipped to the fourth place in the ranks of the world’s top gold countries, with China, Australia and the US ranking as the top three producers.

“There has been a shift in the last decade, and obviously iron-ore is going to become increasingly important, while coal will remain a very important resource,” Naryshkine noted.

Stats SA reported that the total seasonally adjusted value of mineral sales at current prices for the third quarter of 2009, which ended September, reflected an increase of 0,5% compared with the previous quarter.

This increase of 0,5%, or R304,6-million, was mainly owing to an increase of 76,6% in the sales value of other metallic minerals.

The actual estimated total value of mineral sales at current prices for the third quarter of 2009, decreased by 28,5% compared with the third quarter of 2008.

The major contributors to this decrease were PGMs, contributing a decline in sales of 12,4 percentage points, or R10,2-billion, coal which contributed a decline of 7,5 percentage points, or R6,14-billion, and manganese ore, which contributed a decline of 6,6 percentage points, or R5,4-billion.

The minerals that made a substantial positive contribution to the change were iron-ore, which contributed 1,4 percentage points, or R1,2-billion, and gold, which contributed 1,1%, or R889,3-million.

To subscribe to Mining Weekly's print magazine email subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za or buy now.