SOUTH32 reported a 14% increase in South African manganese sales for the first quarter of its 2025 financial year as a result of “a strong mining performance”.
Commenting in its first quarter production report, the Perth-headquartered firm also said it continued to sell secondary products in manganese in order to improve margins.
Sales of manganese ore totalled 590,000 wet metric tons for the quarter which compares to 518,000 (wmt) in the first quarter of the 2024 financial year, the group said.
Production was 12% stronger at 628,000 tons in the quarter compared to the previous (fourth) quarter but 5% less year-on-year.
“We will continue to optimise our product mix and use of higher cost trucking in response to market conditions,” said South32. Full year guidance is unchanged at two million tons. Planned maintenance is scheduled for the June 2025 half year, it said.
United Manganese Kalahari (UMK), a company said to be linked with Russian oligarch Vikor Vekselberg, commented last week it had stopped exporting ore via road owing to market conditions. “Presently, stockpiles in major markets like China are healthy, and this has led to a decline in demand,” said UMK CEO Malcolm Curror.
“While the price of manganese enjoyed a buoyant period in the middle of the year, it was short-lived, and current market conditions do not support the need for multiple transportation methods,” he added.
Manganese prices improved earlier this year following a cyclone that hit South32’s GEMCO facilities in Australia, disrupting production. Last week, however, French miner Eramet cut manganese production targets from its Gabon mine citing a market downturn.
Eramet attributed the deterioration in manganese to falling Chinese output of carbon steel – which requires manganese in its production – and an influx of low-grade ore following a price surge earlier this year, according to a report by Reuters.
South32 has a 54.6% stake in the Mamatwan and Wessels mines in South Africa’s Northern Cape province with the balance owned by black-owned companies and Anglo American.
