South Africa’s mining activity dipped by 2,7% year on year, in November 2025.
Juan-Pierre Terblanche, Principal Survey Statisticians, said the decline is largely due to a decrease in coal production, which slowed by 7,9% subtracted from overall growth.
“Iron ore, group metals, gold and chrome, also performed poorly in November.”
He also said an upside of the industry has produced more diamonds, manganese ore, copper and nickel.
“On a month to month basis, seasonal adjusted mining production decreased by 5,9% in November than compared to October.”
This is the lowest it has been since February 2023.
Terblanche said mineral sales at current prices decreased by 0,3% year-on-year in November 2025.
The largest negative contributors were gold (-27,9% and contributing -6,0 percentage points); coal (-15,0% and contributing -3,8 percentage points); and iron ore (-16,6% and contributing -1,7 percentage points).
Platinum Group Metals (PGMs) contributed about 9,7 percentage points to growth.
Analysts at Sable International, said “while the rand experienced a slight edge lower recently, following a mix of manufacturing and mining data in January 2026, it had remained at multi-year highs in 2025 and early 2026.”
Gold remains a cornerstone of South Africa’s export earnings, and every incremental increase in the gold price strengthens the country’s trade balance.
“In November, gold’s stability translated directly into a firmer, steadier ZAR – particularly against the British Pound (GBP) and US Dollar (USD).”
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