SA Mining Production Grew By 7% In February

Data released by Statistics South Africa on Thursday showed that mining production and mineral sales surged in February, while manufacturing production declined. Mining production grew by 7 % in February compared to February last year after a 7.5% jump in January.

This took the year to date increase to 7.2% compared with a 0.7% drop in 2019 and a 2.1% decline in 2018.

The largest positive contributors to the 7 % increase in February were coal, which rose by 13.7% compared to a year earlier and contributed more than half or 3.8 percentage points to the 7.0% rise; platinum group metals (PGMs) such as platinum, palladium and rhodium, which increased by 8.7% and contributed 1.8 percentage points and gold production, which grew by 11.5% and contributed 1.5 percentage points.

As the rand has weakened and precious metal prices have strengthened in US dollar terms, so South African producers have gained