https://www.miningweekly.com

Copper production boom drives 22% lift in Oct mining production

10th December 2013

By: Natalie Greve

Creamer Media Contributing Editor Online

  

Font size: - +

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Mining production increased by 22% year-on-year in October, largely on the back of a substantial 194.4% lift in copper production and a 74.4% improvement in gold output, Statistics South Africa revealed in its preliminary Mining Production and Sales release on Tuesday.

Also driving overall mining output for the month were improvements in the production of chromium ore, which increased by 43%, as well as iron-ore and manganese ore, which increased by 38.2% and 36.7% respectively.

The main contributors to the 22% increase were gold, which contributed eight percentage points, iron-ore, which contributed 5.6 percentage points and platinum-group metals (PGMs), which contributed 3.9 percentage points.

Coal and other nonmetallic minerals were the only negative contributors, contributing -0.9 and -0.6 percentage points respectively.

Seasonally adjusted mining production increased by 6.5% in October compared with month-on-month changes of -3.9% in September and -1.7% in August.

Meanwhile, mineral sales increased by 8.6% year-on-year in September, with the highest positive growth rates recorded for copper at 121.1% and chromium ore at 55.2%.

The major contributors to the 8.6% increase were PGMs, contributing 6.1 percentage points, iron-ore, contributing 3.8 percentage points and coal, contributing 2.4 percentage points.

Overall mineral sales were negatively impacted by gold sales, which contracted by 8.2 percentage points.

Seasonally adjusted mineral sales at current prices decreased by 7.8% in September compared with August, which followed month-on-month changes of 8% in August and 2.4% in July.

In contrast, seasonally adjusted mineral sales at current prices increased by 4.5% in the third quarter of 2013 compared with the previous quarter, which was largely driven by the sales value of iron-ore, contributing 3.7 percentage points, and PGMs, contributing three percentage points.

Edited by Tracy Klückow
Creamer Media Contributing Editor

Article Enquiry

Email Article

Save Article

Feedback

To advertise email advertising@creamermedia.co.za or click here

Showroom

ALBIS FLANGES (Pty) Ltd
ALBIS FLANGES (Pty) Ltd

ALBIS FLANGES — founded in 1965 — is a petro-chemical approved manufacturer of flanges and fittings in most grades of steel, listed with Sasol,...

VISIT SHOWROOM 
ASTPM
ASTPM

Established in 1983, the ASTPM is an industry association and representative body of the welded carbon steel tube and pipe manufacturers of South...

VISIT SHOWROOM 

Latest Multimedia

sponsored by

Magazine round up | 21 August 2026
Magazine round up | 21 August 2026
21st August 2026

Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):

Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format

Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):

All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.

Already a subscriber?

Forgotten your password?

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

SUBSCRIBE

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

SUBSCRIBE

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION







sq:0.049 0.074s - 110pq - 2rq
Subscribe Now