South Africa’s mining production in March climbed 21.3pc from the prior year on the back of low base year. The steepest decline was recorded in April 2020 at 51.2pc. In February, total mining output contracted 2.3pc.
The largest contributors to mining production growth in the month were platinum group metals, followed by iron ore and manganese ore. The mining industry in Q1 recorded a production growth of 3.8pc. The mining data was released by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) on May 13.
Quarterly production
The mining production index for iron ore in Jan-March (Q1) grew 17pc from the previous quarter (Oct-Dec). The index for chromium ore increased 4.8pc in Q1 from previous quarter while index for copper production increased marginally by 3.6pc. Nickel production index has dipped 12.8pc in Q1 compared to the prior quarter.
Monthly production of minerals/metals
Iron ore production in March was up 10.5pc from the prior year month, Chromium ore production jumped by 26.5pc, copper by 63.4pc and nickel skyrocketed 41.5pc.