JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Labour unrest in the platinum sector continued to weigh down South Africa’s mining output as Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) reported a 4.8% year-on-year contraction in February.

Stats SA, which had noted a slowing in mining production during January to 3.7%, on Thursday said platinum group metals (PGMs) registered the largest negative year-on-year growth rate at -35.8%, followed by building materials and diamonds at -10.3% and -8.4% respectively.

Production at platinum producers Lonmin, Anglo Platinum and Impala Platinum came to a halt in January as workers downed tools in an effort to secure higher wages.

The 11-week strike has cost the employers and workers billions of rands in revenue and wages respectively.

The unrest had “hurt production badly” with the sector shaving off 7.6 percentage points from the headline yearly mining production results, Nedbank’s Economic Unit said, noting that the performance of the mining sector would likely remain volatile in the months ahead.

The ‘Mining production and sales’ report for February showed the coal sector also emerging as one of the main contributors to the 4.8% decrease, contributing -1.3 percentage points.

Excluding gold output, which fell 3.6% year-on-year in February, mining production declined by 5%, Nedbank pointed out.

Seasonally adjusted mining production decreased 7% in February after recording month-on-month changes of -3.7% in January 2014 and 5.1% in December 2013.

However, in the three months to February, seasonally adjusted mining production increased 0.7% when compared with the previous three months, on the back of a 3.3 percentage point contribution from iron-ore.

Meanwhile, Stats SA said mineral sales rose 7.3% year-on-year in January, with the highest positive growth rates recorded for ‘other’ nonmetallic minerals and nickel, reporting a rise of 96.5% and 35.8% respectively, as well as a 35.4% rise in PGMs and a 32.4% increase in manganese ore.

PGMs, contributing 6.6 percentage points, coal, contributing 3.8 percentage points, and ‘other’ nonmetallic minerals, 3.1 percentage points, were the main contributors to mineral sales growth for the period under review.

Seasonally adjusted mineral sales at current prices increased 6.1% in January, compared with December 2013, after month-on-month changes of 0.1% in December 2013 and -3% in November 2013.