South Africa Mining Sector Plunges Further in August

Mining production in South Africa plummeted by 12.7% year-on-year in August 2026, following a revised 7% decline in the prior month. This marked the fourth consecutive month of downturn and the steepest annual drop since October 2022, primarily due to reduced output from PGMs (-22.5%); iron ore (-16.2%) and coal (-11.7%). Significant declines were also recorded for diamonds (-41.1%); nickel (-32.2%); other metallic minerals (-12.5%); other non-metallic minerals (-11.2%); copper (-7.3%) and gold (-5.7% ). On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, mining production shrank by 5.4%, after decreasing by 1.9% in the previous month. Mining production slumped by 5.2% in the three months ended August 2026 compared with the previous three months.

Mining production in South Africa plunged by 7.5% year-on-year in July 2026, after an upwardly revised 4.3% drop in June and worse than analysts' forecasts of a 2.8% slump. The latest decline extended South Africa’s mining downturn to three consecutive months and was the sharpest since February 2025. The industry continues to face structural constraints, including logistics bottlenecks, high operating costs, ageing mines and weaker demand for some commodities like iron ore and coal. Output declined across almost all categories, with platinum group metals (PGMs) (-13.5%), coal (-7.5%) and iron ore (-8%) making the largest negative contributions. On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, mining production shrank by 1.9%, after a downwardly revsied 0.1% increase in the month before. Mining production slipped by 5.5% in the three months ended July 2026 compared with the previous three months.

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.