The good and bad of SA Mining Performance

Two recently published reports – #MiningMatter2025 released by the Minerals Council South Africa and the Department of Mineral Resources and Petroleum’s Mining Sector Performance 2024 – reflect mining’s vital contribution to the South African economy in 2024.

The South African mining industry contributed 6.1% to the country’s R6.4 trillion gross domestic product in 2024, recording a slight decrease from 6.3% in the previous year. This was revealed by the Directorate Mineral Economics and Statistics within the Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources (DMPR) in its report titled Mining Sector Performance 2024.

The Minerals Council South Africa in its #2025MiningMatter says that this translated to a R470 billion contribution to South African household income as mining companies footed a wage bill of R195 billion, accounting for 5% of all wages and salaries paid in South Africa last year.

The two reports reflect a difference in mining’s 2024 employment figure with the Minerals Council stating one of 473 484 versus DMPR’s 474 736. The Department goes on to say that it’s figure reflects a 1.2% drop compared to 2023, and added that the decrease was notable from the diamond, platinum metals group (PGM) and gold sectors, which respectively shed 7.2%, 5.2% and 2.4% of jobs.

The 2025MiningMatters overview – a fact-based independent study into the impact of mining in South Africa – claims a number of 1.9 million livelihoods are supported by mining’s direct employment. It also mentions a further 400 000 people employed by direct suppliers of goods and services to the sector bringing the total of livelihoods supported by mining to 3.5 million.

Women make up 19% of the full-time mining work force, which according to the Minerals Councils shows “steady progress in diversity and inclusivity to address the industry’s legacy before 1994, when women were prevented by law from working underground”.

Mining wages compare favourably

The Minerals Council also revealed the average annual wages for high-skilled, semi-skilled and low- or unskilled workers in the sector to be R577 597, R328 996 and R246 924, respectively. These are considerably higher than the national average wages in these categories, which are reported to be R400 958, R205 851 and R113 083, respectively.

The precious minerals sector contributed 59% to total mining employment in 2024, followed by the energy and ferrous sectors at 21% and 12%, respectively. Non-ferrous and industrial minerals sectors contributed 4.0% each.

In terms of the top five revenue contributors by commodity, the coal, PGM, gold, and iron ore sectors remain the largest contributors at 27%, 20%, 17% and 11%, in that order.

The top five employers contributors by commodity are the PGM, gold, coal, chrome and iron ore sectors at 37%, 21%, 19%, 5.4% and 4.5%, in that order.

The Minerals Council reports that in 2024 mining companies and the entire value chain of businesses servicing mines, including taxes on wages of all employees, contributed a total of R342 billion to the South African fiscus.

This contribution was equivalent to:

• building 213,974 houses of approximately 80 square metres
• constructing 17,100 kilometres of tarred road
• paying the annual salaries of 978,166 high school teachers at a salary level of R350,000 per year.

“The industry invested R160 billion in machinery, equipment, vehicles, and construction, accounting for 15% of South Africa’s national gross fixed capital formation. When suppliers are included capital formation rises to R193 billion,” the Minerals Council states, adding that capital formation is critical to sustaining economic growth.

According to DMPR mining’s overall economic contribution was limited by 1) subdued commodity prices; and 2) rising operational costs. “Declining commodity prices have eroded gains due to elevated prices, achieved during 2022 and 2023,” states the department.

Production and sales

DMPR reported an overall decline in mining production in 2024, which was driven by contractions in the following sectors; gold, diamond, coal, non-ferrous minerals as well as industrial minerals.

Precious metals production decreased by 2.1% to about 383.4 t, with gold and silver being the most significant contributors. Diamond also a recorded a 1.2 % decline in 2024 to about 5.83 Mcts. Coal production declined marginally by 0.2% to 256.6Mt, driven by curtailed production prompted by continued inefficiencies in rail transport.

Ferrous minerals production increased by 3.4% in 2024 to about 105.4 Mt, with chrome and manganese being the most significant contributors. Iron ore however recorded a 0.6 % drop in the same period.

Non-ferrous metals production registered a slight year-on-year contraction of 1.0%, reaching a total output of 2.7Mt. The decline was primarily driven by significant reductions in the production of lead and zinc. Industrial minerals production decreased by 0.2% to 89.6 Mt in 2024 compared with 89.7 Mt in 2023. This decline is attributed to the sluggish demand, with industrial minerals being reliant on demand.

Sales and value

According to the #2025MiningMatters report the mining industry sold minerals into the local economy worth R248 billion, a record high as domestic purchases have become more diverse.

Coal for energy generation has dominated mineral sales, accounting for R135 billion or 54% of the total.  Eskom supplies more than 80% of South Africa’s electricity from its coal-fired power plants, while Sasol uses coal to make liquid fuel, a key source of diesel and petrol for the local economy.

In 2024, diamonds used for jewellery and industrial applications accounted for R7.7 billion (3.1%) of local sales, gold for jewellery and technological applications for R5.8 billion (2.3%), PGMs for production of autocatalysts, jewellery and industrial applications for R4.97 billion (2%), and iron ore for steel making for R5.3 billion (2.1%). Other minerals and metals made up R71 billion, contributing 28.6%, while other mining activities added R18.8 billion, or 7.6%.