South Africa’s mining production fell 4% year-on-year in June 2026, extending the sector’s weakness after a 5.1% decline in May.
According to the latest Statistics South Africa data released on Thursday, the main declines came from platinum group metals (PGMs), where output dropped 8.4% and shaved 2.4 percentage points off total mining growth.
Coal production fell 6.6%, accounting for 1.7 percentage points of the decline, while iron ore dropped 10.2%, contributing 1.5 percentage points.
These declines were partly offset by stronger manganese ore, chromium ore and gold production, which rose 13.3%, 8.6% and 6.2% respectively.
Manganese ore contributed 0.9 percentage points to overall mining growth, while chromium ore and gold each added 0.5 percentage points.
There was, however, a modest improvement on a monthly basis. Seasonally adjusted mining production increased 0.3% in June compared with May, following a sharp 5.2% contraction in May and a 3% increase in April.
Overall production for the second quarter was 2.7% lower than in the first quarter. PGMs were the largest contributor to the quarterly decline, with production falling 6.4%.
Despite weaker production, mineral sales at current prices jumped 27.2% year-on-year in June, driven largely by a 125.7% surge in gold sales, a 49% increase in chromium ore sales and a 27% rise in PGM sales.
Seasonally adjusted mineral sales also increased 2.7% month-on-month in June.
