JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – South African mining production increased by 5.3% year-on-year in September, the latest data from Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) has shown.
Stats SA on Thursday said the main contributors to the increase were iron-ore, which showed the highest positive production growth rate of 38.3% and contributed 5.7 percentage points, followed by coal and manganese ore, contributing 1.8 percentage points and 1.2 percentage points respectively.
Platinum-group metals (PGMs) remained a significant negative contributor during September, having contributed a negative 4.1 percentage points.
Meanwhile, Stats SA pointed at that seasonally adjusted mining production increased by 7% month-on-month in September, following month-on-month changes of negative 2.3% and 1.6% in August and July respectively.
Seasonally adjusted mining production increased by 0.7% in the third quarter of 2014 compared with the prior quarter, mainly owing to iron-ore, which added 0.9 of a percentage point.
Further, mineral sales decreased by 10.7% year-on-year in August, with iron-ore sales having declined by 40.7% and PGMs and manganese ore sales dropping by 31.2% and 22.4% respectively.
PGMs and iron-ore were the main contributors to the 10.7% decrease, having contributed negative 8.2 and negative 6.6 percentage points respectively.
Seasonally adjusted mineral sales at current prices decreased by 0.5% in August compared with July, following month-on-month changes of 7% in July and negative 7% in June, Stats SA noted.