By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
South Africa’s mining sector delivered an unexpected improvement in May, despite widespread forecasts of a renewed contraction, with production edging up 0.2% year on year after April’s steep 7.7% contraction.
The better-than-expected performance offered a modest reprieve for an industry grappling with persistent headwinds including weak demand and logistics bottlenecks.
Iron-ore production increased by 12.5% year-on-year, while manganese ore output decreased by 13% year-on-year and coal by 4.6% year-on-year.
Further, seasonally adjusted mining production increased by 3.7% month-on-month in May. This followed month-on-month changes of 0% in April and 3.9% in March.
Seasonally adjusted mining production increased by 2.6% in the three months ended May, compared with the previous three months. The largest positive contributor was iron-ore, while coal was the largest negative contributor.
Meanwhile, Statistics South Africa notes that mineral sales at current prices increased by 18.8% year-on-year in May.
The largest positive contributor was gold (338.7% and contributing 25.5 percentage points), while the largest negative contributor was platinum group metals (-15.6% and contributing -4.1 percentage points).
Seasonally adjusted mineral sales at current prices increased by 6.3% month-on-month in May 2025. This followed month-on-month changes of 7.6% in April and 2.9% in March.
Seasonally adjusted mineral sales at current prices increased by 4.1% in the three months ended May, compared with the previous three months.