Collective gold output in South Africa has been found to have dropped during October this year compared to the corresponding period last year, statistics from the African country's government have shown.

In volume terms, the country saw a decrease of 7.1 per cent while cumulatively, the production of minerals rose 2.5 per cent in October.

However, October's price fall aside, year-on-year gold sales in South Africa were discovered to have increased by 99.3 per cent, accounting for a value of R4.25 billion (£308 million).

Allied to this, mining production in total rose by 1.3 per cent in October compared to the three months prior to this.

When gold production was at its peak in South Africa in 1970, the country was contributing almost 80 per cent of the world's annual supply.

World Gold Council statistics show that South Africa accounted for 12 per cent of the 2,518 tonnes of gold produced in 2005 and was the world's largest producing nation last year, beating both the US and Australia.