JOHANNESBURG, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- Mining production in South Africa dropped by 12.7 percent year on year in October, the Business Day newspaper in Johannesburg reported on Thursday.

Quoting figures from Statistics South Africa (StatsSA), the newspaper said this came after a revised 3.9 percent decrease in September 2011.

South Africa's gold production fell by 3.3 percent year on year in October after a decline of 9 percent year on year in September.

StatsSA said the country's seasonally adjusted mining production decreased by 3.1 percent for the three months ended October, compared with the previous quarter.

South Africa's platinum group metals contributed 1.5 percentage points to the fall.

The official figures showed that South Africa's actual mining production was 6.7 percent lower for the three months to the end of October when compared with the same period a year before.

However, the actual value of mineral sales at current prices for the third quarter this year increased by 17.7 percent, compared with the third quarter of 2010.

The main contributor was iron ore, with 6. 6 percentage points.