South Africa's mining production decreased by 2.6% year-on-year in March, with the diamonds and platinum-group metals (PGMs) having been the biggest contributors.
Diamond output was 54.7% lower year-on-year, contributing -3.3 percentage points to the overall figure, while PGMs output decreased by 9.1%, contributing -2.2 percentage points to the overall figure.
The largest positive contributors were gold, with a 21.6% increase in production and a 2.8 percentage point contribution; and manganese ore, with a 23.1% increase in output and a 1.4 percentage point contribution to the overall number.
Seasonally adjusted mining production increased by 6.5% month-on-month in March.
This followed month-on-month changes of -7% in February and 3.8% in January.
Seasonally adjusted mining production increased by 1% in the first quarter of the year, compared with the fourth quarter of 2022.
The largest positive contributors were gold (4.2% and contributing 0.7 of a percentage point); PGMs (3.1% and contributing 0.7 of a percentage point); iron-ore (4.6% and contributing 0.5 of a percentage point) and manganese ore (6.9% and contributing 0.5 of a percentage point).
Statistics South Africa further reports that mineral sales at current prices decreased by 15.1% year-on-year in March.
The largest negative contributors were: PGMs (-36.2% and contributing -13.1 percentage points); coal (-23% and contributing -6 percentage points) and gold (-20.9% and contributing -2.2 percentage points).
Chromium ore (63% and contributing 2.2 percentage points) and manganese ore (41% and contributing 1.7 percentage points) were significant positive contributors.
Seasonally adjusted mineral sales at current prices decreased by 2.8% month-on-month. This followed month-on-month changes of -1.2% in February 2023 and -0.8 in January
In the first quarter of this year, the seasonally adjusted value of mineral sales at current prices was 0.2% higher than in the fourth quarter of 2022.