Mining production in South Africa fell sharply by 10.7% year-on-year in September 2026, following a revised 11.7% drop in August—the steepest annual contraction since October 2022. This was the fifth consecutive monthly decline and remained pronounced, reflecting broad-based weakness across most mineral categories.
The largest negative contributions came from iron ore (-23.7%), coal (-13.4%), platinum group metals (PGMs, -9.9%), and diamonds (-63.1%). Output also contracted markedly for gold (-7.5%), building materials (-12.5%), other metallic minerals (-11.6%), other non-metallic minerals (-9.5%), and nickel (-7.7%).
By contrast, production increased for chromium ore (+13.1%) and manganese ore (+12.8%).
On a seasonally adjusted month-on-month basis, total mining output rose by 2.8% in September, rebounding from a revised 4.8% decline in the previous month. Nonetheless, seasonally adjusted mining production decreased by 6% in the third quarter of 2026 compared with the second quarter of 2026.
