South Africa Mining Output Shrinks for 2nd Month

Mining production in South Africa fell by 4.4% year-on-year in June 2026, following a downwardly revised 5.1% drop in May. The largest negative contributors were PGMs, down 8.4% and weighing 2.4 percentage points, followed by coal (-6.6%; -1.7 points) and iron ore (-10.2%; -1.5 points). Conversely, output increased for manganese ore (13.3% vs 10.1%); chromium ore (8.6% vs 10.3%); gold (6.2% vs -4.4%) and building materials (2.5% vs -8.8%). On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, mining production rose by 0.3%, rebounding from a 5.2% decline in the preceding month. Mining activity shrank by 2.7% in the second quarter of 2026 compared with the first quarter of 2026.

Mining production in South Africa slipped by 5.4% year-on-year in May 2026, following a downwardly revised 8% jump in April and worse than the expected 1.5% rise. The decline marked the first contraction in mining activity in six months and the steepest since February 2025. Iron ore was the largest negative contributor, declining 12.7% and subtracting 2.1 percentage points, followed by coal (-6.1%; -1.5 percentage points) and platinum group metals (PGMs), which fell 4.4%. Also, output decreased sharply for diamonds (-17.8%); other metallic minerals (-17.6%); nickel (-16.5%); copper (-14.3%) and other non-metallic minerals (-8.9%), while rising for manganese ore (8.7%) and chromium ore (8.5%). On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, mining output dropped by 5.2% in May, the most since November 2025, after a downwardly revised 3.1% advance in the month before. Mining production shrank by 1.7% in the three months ended May 2026 compared with the previous three months.

Mining production in South Africa climbed by 8.2% year-on-year in April 2026, following a 2.5% rise in the prior month, mainly due to a weak base of comparison. This marked the fifth consecutive month of growth in mining activity, largely supported by PGMs (+36.5%), manganese ore (+19%) and chromium ore (+17.5%). By contrast, output declined for coal (-5.8%); copper (-13.1%), other metallic minerals (-16%); diamonds (-17.1%) and other non-metallic minerals (-4.8%). On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, mining output rose by 3.3%, after a downwardly revised 4.8% decline in the preceding month. Mining production increased by 2.4% in the three months ended April 2026 compared with the previous three months.