Hugo Pienaar, Chief Economist at Minerals Council South Africa, announced the 2024 Facts & Figures pocketbook at the Mining Indaba (#MI25) State of the Mining Nation address.

A big plus was the continued moderation of price pressures, with consumer inflation in some countries returning to central bank targets. This came as some relief after inflation spiked in 2022, driven higher by a combination of post-COVID-19 reopening effects and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The combination of lower inflation, and in some countries also concern about GDP growth dynamics, led to several leading central banks reducing policy interest rates. In a notable move, the US Federal Reserve Bank (Fed) started its rate cutting cycle with a 50-basis point (bps) reduction in September 2024, followed by further modest cuts of 25-bps in November and
December. This was after the European Central Bank (ECB) already cut rates by 25-bps in June, with others such as the Bank of England and the People’s Bank of China also easing the interest rate burden on consumers and business.
Financial market expectations about the pace and scale of relative interest rate moves between countries was again an important driver of global currency volatility.

Platinum Group Metals (PGM)s consist of six noble metals i.e., platinum, palladium, rhodium, ruthenium, osmium and iridium.

Industry developments in 2024:
• The PGM industry has become the second-largest contributor to total mining sector sales, overtaken by coal, which last led commodity sales in 2020.
Nevertheless, South Africa retains its position as the world’s leading producer of PGMs.
• PGM production in 2024 is estimated to have declined by 2.1%, totalling approximately 248 tonnes.
The sustained pressure on the PGM basket price is forcing miners to restructure operations, including workforce adjustments, leading to lower levels of production. Production levels
remain approximately 7.6% below pre-COVID levels.
• After a sharp and rapid decline, PGM basket prices have seemingly bottomed out. However, total PGM sales for 2024 fell by around 15% compared to the previous year, following a significant 34.3% drop in 2023.
PGM prices:
• PGM prices in 2024 were lower than in 2023, with the dollar basket price averaging US$1,273.9 down 18.6% compared to 2023.

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