JOHANNESBURG, Feb. 14 — South Africa’s mining production increased by 0.4 percent in 2024, higher than the 0.1 percent in 2023, a South African mining-industry employer organization said in a statement issued on Thursday. The Minerals Council South Africa said although the production growth rate in 2024 exceeded that of 2023, the total output remained below the pre-COVID level. “The sector still has a long way to go to recover from the large production slump of 7.8 percent during 2022. Indeed, the level of real mining production in December 2024 was still around 9 percent below the pre-COVID level of 2019,” said Hugo Pienaar, chief economist of the council, in the statement. Pienaar noted the stark differences between major mining subsectors during 2024, with gold output down by almost 7 percent, which the council attributed to the long-term structural decline of the domestic gold industry amid aging and high-cost deposits. Meanwhile, output of chrome ore increased significantly on the back of record exports of 20.5 million tonnes. “Excluding gold, total real mining production increased by 1.4 percent in 2024, a welcome turnaround from a 1.1 percent contraction during 2023,” said Pienaar. “In 2025, the mining sector hopes for a more robust recovery will again be tied by progress on electricity, rail and port logistics, as well as improved water provision and local government performance,” he said. “We remain confident that mining load curtailment will remain absent as Eskom brings on new generation units. While slow, we also expect further progress in the freight rail performance.” Pienaar also pointed out that tariffs imposed by the U.S. administration have the potential to affect not only the South African mining sector, but also the global trade and economic growth of many countries.
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