Statistics South Africa reported on Tuesday that mining production decreased 12.7 percent year on year in August 2026. Platinum group metals made the largest negative contribution, with output down 22.5 percent and a 6.1 percentage point drag on the headline figure. Coal production fell 11.7 percent, contributing minus 3.0 points, and iron ore fell 16.2 percent, contributing minus 2.4 points.
On a seasonally adjusted basis, production fell 5.4 percent month on month in August, after a 1.9 percent decline in July and a 0.4 percent rise in June. Output in the three months to August was 5.2 percent lower than in the previous three months, with PGMs down 14.4 percent over that window. Independent reporting of the same release put the August fall as the steepest annual decline since October 2022, deeper than July’s revised 7.0 percent drop.
Mineral sales at current prices fell 15.1 percent year on year. Gold sales dropped 48.6 percent, iron ore sales fell 23.0 percent, PGM sales fell 7.5 percent and coal sales fell 7.8 percent. Chromium ore and manganese ore were the only production categories to grow, up 11.1 percent and 4.1 percent respectively.
Business Day linked the slump to elevated fuel costs since April, and noted the Minerals Council South Africa’s input cost index still showed elevated price pressures in August, particularly for energy, transport and processing intensive operations. With manufacturing output also down 4.3 percent year on year in August, the print points to mining weighing on third quarter GDP.