SAfrica's Q1 gold output down 10 pct q/q

JOHANNESBURG, May 25 (Reuters) - South Africa's gold output fell by 10 percent to 49,713.6 kg in the first quarter of 2009 compared with the fourth quarter of last year, the country's chamber of mines said in a statement on Monday.

On a year-on-year basis the rate of decline in gold production was 4.8 percent in the first quarter of 2009.

The first quarter of this year was measured against a lower base in 2008, when South African gold mines suffered a sharp drop in production after closing for days in January last year owing to a power shortage.

South Africa's overall gold output in 2008 fell to its lowest level in 86 years due to the power shortage and dwindling grades, which lowered it to the world's number three producer behind China and the United States.

(Reporting by James Macharia)