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Frederick Mitchell, Chief Economist | Aluma Capital (Pty) Ltd
Frederick Mitchell
February 14, 2025

Mining Production and Sales

December 2024

In December 2024, South Africa’s mining sector faced a slight decline of 2.4%, primarily due to drops in PGMs and gold. However, manganese ore and coal showed growth, contributing positively. Despite challenges, the sector remains crucial, employing 484,000 people and benefitting from supportive government efforts.

Mining in South Africa increased by 1.4% in October 2024, building on a notable 4.9% growth in September. Key contributors to this growth included:

  • Iron Ore: Up 10.0%, adding 1.3 percentage points
  • Platinum Group Metals (PGMs): Up 3.3%, contributing 2.1 percentage points
  • Coal: Up 1.8%, contributing 0.4 percentage points
  • Diamonds: Up 27.9%, adding 0.5 percentage points
  • Chromium Ore: Up 14.0%, contributing another 0.7 percentage points

However, iron ore production dropped by 6.4%, reducing growth by 0.8 percentage points, and gold production fell by 3.4%, leading to an overall decline of 0.5 percentage points in mining production.

In October 2024, mineral sales rose by 1.6%, following a 7.9% increase in September. Significant sales increases included:

  • Other Metallic Minerals: Surged 28.9%, boosting performance by 0.6 percentage points
  • Chromium Ore: Increased by 7.4%, adding 0.5 percentage points
  • Coal: Up 10.3%, contributing 2.5 percentage points
  • Gold: Increased by 4.1%, contributing another 0.9 percentage points
  • Other Non-Metallic Minerals: Grew by 11.2%, boosting performance by 0.4 percentage points

Despite these gains, iron sales experienced a significant decline of 30.0%, reducing the total mineral sales value by 3.1 percentage points in October 2024.

The mining sector remains essential to South Africa’s economy, driving foreign exchange and directly employing approximately 484,000 people, according to StatsSA. After facing significant challenges from late 2022 to 2023 due to electricity supply issues and infrastructure bottlenecks, especially at ports, production volumes began to recover in early 2024 and continued to show improvement in October data following a slump from April to August.

The sector appears to be rebounding from a low base, supported by improved economic confidence in South Africa, as indicated by soft data indices over recent months. Looking ahead, mining production is expected to stabilize and grow moderately, driven by increased confidence in the sector. However, mining firms remain cautiously optimistic about ensuring consistent electricity supply and resolving infrastructure challenges in the medium term, as promised by the Government of National Unity.

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