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South Africa’s total mining production contracted
by 7.2% year-on-year in 2022, following growth of 11.6% year-on-year in 2021
and a contraction of 10.4% year-on-year in 2020, reports Statistics South
Africa.
In December 2022, mining production
decreased by 3.5% year-on-year, brought down primarily by a 15.2% year-on-year
decline in iron-ore production, which subtracted 2.1 percentage points from the
overall tally.
A 36.9% decline in the production of
diamonds saw 1.9 percentage points being removed from the overall figure, while
a 5.3% decline in the production of platinum group metals (PGMs) meant the
commodities were responsible for 1.5 percentage points being removed, overall.
Compared with November, seasonally-adjusted
mining production increased by 1.2% in December; following month-on-month changes
of -0.8% in November and -2.9% in October.
Quarter-on-quarter, seasonally-adjusted
mining production decreased by 3.4% in the fourth quarter of 2022, brought down
mainly by a 32.4% decline in diamond production that subtracted 1.7 percentage
points from the overall tally.
The production of iron-ore was 6.8% lower
quarter-on-quarter, resulting in 0.8 of a percentage point being subtracted
from the overall figure, while a 2.5% decline in PGMs production saw the
overall tally slip by 0.6 of a percentage point.
In terms of sales, a 17.6% year-on-year
increase in the sale of coal added four percentage points to the overall sales
for December. Chromium ore increased by 35.3%, adding 1.1 percentage points.
This helped to boost sales with an increase of 0.1% year-on-year in December.
However, the marginal overall sales growth
was impacted negatively by a 12.6% decline in sales of PGMs, an 8.6% decline in
sales of iron-ore, together accounting for 5.6 percentage points being deducted
from the overall sales figures.
Nonetheless, compared with 2021, total
mineral sales were 2.8% higher in 2022; following increases of 39.7% in 2021
and 10.9% in 2020.
Seasonally-adjusted mineral sales at
current prices increased by 9.9% month-on-month in December, following month-on-month
changes of -8.1% in November and -6.1% in October.
Quarter-on-quarter, the seasonally-adjusted
value of mineral sales at current prices was 10.7% lower in the fourth quarter
of 2022.