South Africa: Mining production lags in 06

South Africa: Mining production lags in 06

South Africa’s mining production, including gold, declined 1.1 percent in 2006 compared with 2005, Statistics South Africa said on Monday. This was the only annual decrease since 2000, Stats SA commented.

However, total mining production for the three months ended December after seasonal adjustment, increased by 5.5 percent compared with the previous three months ”” due mainly to a 6.7 percent increase in the production of non-gold minerals.

The major contributor to the seasonally adjusted increase of 6.7 percent in the total production of non-gold minerals during the December quarter was an increase in the production of the Platinum Group Metals (PGMs) (+3.1 percentage points).

Furthermore, the actual total mining production for the three months ended December increased by 6.2 percent compared with the three months ended December 2005.

Gold production decreases

Gold production decreased by 12.4 percent for December 2006 compared with December 2005.

Stats SA also noted that the seasonally adjusted value of mineral sales at current prices for the three months ended November 2006 reflected an increase of 9.9 percent compared with the previous three months, mainly due to an increase of 11 percent ”” or R4.55-billion ”” in the sales of non-gold minerals and 5.3 percent ”” or R537.8-million ”” in the sales of gold.

Furthermore, the actual value of mineral sales at current prices for the three months ended November 2006 increased by 51.3 percent compared with the three months ended November 2005.

The major contributors to this increase were PGMs (+25 percentage points), gold (+12.5 percentage points), nickel (+5.3 percentage points), coal (+2.5 percentage points) and copper (+2.2 percentage points).

Total mineral sales remained above R17-billion for the sixth consecutive month in November 2006 and increased by 50.8 percent compared with November 2005 to reach 18.78 billion.

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