By Daanyaal Matthews
The South African mining sector has recorded significant losses in both production and sales, with mining output declining by 9.6% and sales dropping by 12.9% year-on-year.
Major losses were in the production of platinum group metals and iron ore, with gold and coal having a lesser impact. Iron ore was a major negative contributor to the sale losses, with the sale of iron declining by -29.5% and gold by -32.7%.
Speaking on VOC NewsBeat, Peter Major, Director of Mining at Modern Corporate Solutions, expressed shock at the figures and emphasized the need for detailed data to understand the underlying causes.
“I don’t know if we have ever had numbers drop this much. We definitely have not had them drop like this in the past five years. These are shocking numbers in production and in sales,” stressed Major.
While the exact reasons behind the downturn remain unclear, Major pointed to a broader trend of decline in the sector, which he attributes in part to waning international investor interest.
“We have seen a huge reluctance from international finance to come into the market. Not greenfields, not brownfields, not buying mines; it is a desert as far as international finance. On the local side, there is a reluctance from mining companies to invest in new production, and you wonder if there is a reluctance to invest in continued production,” questioned Major.
