South Africa, Russia report drops in gold reserves

South Africa and Russia, two of the world’s leading gold producers, reported drops in gold reserves. Statistics South Africa said country’s gold output fell 11.1 percent in volume terms in September while total mineral production dropped 8.3 percent compared with the same month last year. Production of platinum group metals fell 17.8 percent, while output of non-gold minerals was 8.1 percent lower, the statistics agency said. Russia’s gold and foreign exchange reserves fell to $526.4 billion in the week to Nov.2 from $526.5billion a week earlier, Russian central bank said. Russia’s reserves include monetary gold, special drawing rights, reserve position at the IMF and foreign exchange.