Mexican mining production fell 8.9% in October form the year-ago month, affected by a sharp drop in silver output, the National Statistics Institute, or Inegi, said Friday.

Inegi said silver production fell 41.5% from October 2005 to 128,081 kilograms (4.5 million ounces), because of lower metals content in concentrates processed by the country's biggest silver producer Industrias Penoles (PE&OLES.MX).

Copper production fell 11% to 28,522 metric tons, zinc production fell 24.6% to 30,892 metric tons, and lead output fell 26% to 8,668 metric tons, Inegi said.

Gold production edged up 1.1% from October 2005 to 2,692 kilograms (94,758 ounces).

Inegi said iron production was unchanged at 611,793 metric tons, while coal output rose 5.3% to 680,092 metric tons