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Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) reports
that mining production decreased by 0.8% year-on-year in May, with the largest
negative contributors having been platinum group metals (PGMs) and diamonds.
PGMs output was 7.2% lower year-on-year,
contributing -1.9 percentage points, while diamond production was 31.4% lower
year-on-year, contributing -1.2 percentage points.
The largest positive contributors to mining
output in May were gold, with growth of 27.3% year-on-year and contributing 3.4
percentage points, and manganese ore, which grew by 9.4% and contributed 0.7 of
a percentage point.
Seasonally adjusted mining production
increased by 3.8% compared with April, which followed month-on-month changes of
1.5% in April and 7.1% in March.
Seasonally adjusted mining production
increased by 3.1% in the three months ended May 30, compared with the previous
three months, with the largest positive contributors having been gold (growing
at 10.1%), iron-ore (growing at 6%) and coal (growing at 1.9%).
In terms of sales, mineral sales at current
prices decreased by 11.8% year-on-year in May. The largest negative
contributors were coal, with 37% lower output and contributing -10.2 percentage
points, PGMs, with 20.1% lower production and contributing -6.2 percentage
points, and iron-ore, which saw a 30.2% production decrease that contributed
-3.9 percentage points.
Gold sales grew by 71.8% in May,
contributing 7.3 percentage points.
Stats SA also finds that seasonally
adjusted mineral sales at current prices increased by 22.7% in May compared
with April. This followed month-on-month changes of -12.6% in April and -2.2%
in March.
In the three months ended May 30, the
seasonally adjusted value of mineral sales at current prices was 5.1% lower compared
with the previous three months.