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(Wallace Refiners) – The Department of Statistics of South Africa announced yesterday that the domestic mining production increased by 21.3% year-on-year in March 2021.
According to the statement, the largest positive contributors were platinum group metals (68.6% increase, contributing 11.6 percentage points), iron ore (47.9% increase, contributing 4.1 percentage points), manganese ore (29.9%, contributing 2.4 percentage points), and gold (10.5% increase, contributing 1.5 percentage points).
Seasonally adjusted mining production increased by 4.5% in March 2021 compared with February 2021. This followed month-on-month changes of 0.9% in February 2021 and 4.2% in January 2021.
Seasonally adjusted mining production increased by 3.8% in the first quarter of 2021 compared with the fourth quarter of 2020. The largest positive contributors were PGMs (21.5%, contributing 4.3 percentage points) and iron ore (17.0%, contributing 1.7 percentage points).
Mineral sales increased by 46.9% year-on-year in March 2021. The largest contributors were PGMs (76.0%, contributing 26.1 percentage points), gold (61.3%, contributing 7.2 percentage points), iron ore (48.3%, contributing 6.9 percentage points), and “other” non-metallic minerals (72.0%, contributing 2.2 percentage points).
Seasonally adjusted mineral sales at current prices increased by 15.7% in March 2021 compared with February 2021. This followed month-on-month changes of -9.5% in February 2021 and 31.9% in January 2021.
In the first quarter of 2021, the seasonally adjusted value of mineral sales at current prices was 22.3% higher compared with the fourth quarter of 2020.
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