Date: Feb 15, 2019
Total mineral sales were, however, 5.2% higher in 2018 compared with 2017, namely due to contributions from platinum group metals, coal, iron ore and manganese ore.
Mining production decreased by 4.8% year-on-year in December, with negative contributions coming from gold, iron ore, other metallic minerals, copper and chromium ore, Statistics South Africa said on Thursday.
Total mining production was 1.6% lower in 2018, following an increase of 3.9% in 2017.
Gold output fell 31% on a year-on-year basis in December, contributing a negative 4.6 percentage points to the overall number, while iron ore was down 14.3%, adding a negative 2.1 percentage points.
