South Africa's mining production fell 7.5% year-on-year in July 2026 - Shanghai Metals Market

AI desk brief

South Africa’s mining sector contracted 7.5% y/y in July, with platinum group metals the biggest drag as output fell 13.5% and subtracted 3.2 percentage points from headline production. Gold also weakened on the sales side, with mineral sales at current prices down 33.4% y/y and contributing -8.5 percentage points, while seasonally adjusted mineral sales fell 15.1% m/m after a 2.0% rise in June.

The report also showed broad-based softness across the sector: coal production fell 7.5%, iron ore dropped 8.1%, diamonds plunged 48.2%, and nickel fell 18.8%. Chromium ore and manganese were the only notable bright spots, with chromium output up 13.7% and sales up 20%, but that did little to offset the broader contraction.