Gold production fell 5.8% in 2009.

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's gold production fell by 5.8 percent in 2009, pushing the country to the fourth-biggest producer after China, Australia and the United States, the nation's Chamber of Mines said on Friday.

South Africa was the world's largest gold producer for most of the last century up until 2006.

Gold production last year stood at 204,922.8 kg, which was an improvement on the 14.5 percent decline in output that occurred in 2008 mostly as a result of power cuts that crippled mines, the Chamber said in a statement.

The electricity crisis and the stoppages of mines and shafts for safety related reasons, had also reduced production in the country's gold sector in 2008.

The main gold mining firms in South Africa include the world's No. 3 and Africa's top gold producer, AngloGold Ashanti, fourth-ranked Gold Fields and fifth-placed Harmony Gold Mining Co..

In the fourth quarter of 2009, South Africa's gold production fell by 1.8 percent to 51,681.8 kg compared to the third quarter output. On a year-on-year basis gold production was down by 5.4 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009.

Last year, the gold sector earned South Africa about 48.7 billion rand in foreign exchange making it the country's second largest exporter behind platinum group metals, which earned 58 billion rand.

The gold sector employed about 159,000 workers.

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