PGMs, gold, coal, and more push South Africa's 1.2% mining growth

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The council adds that the Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) 2025 marks a pivotal shift, with no new coal-fired power plant build planned.

As a consequence of this shift, the council believes that without technological interventions such as carbon capture and storage, Eskom’s coal consumption could decline by approximately 60 million tonnes by 2042.

The MCSA adds that this anticipated reduction would have significant socio-economic implications, potentially undermining South Africa’s ability to generate foreign exchange earnings.

In 2024, coal exports alone generated over R113bn in foreign exchange.

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In decline, iron ore was the most significant because of its size.

Accounting for 16.41% of total mining production, iron ore output fell by 2.2%, largely due to plant maintenance at one of the country’s major producers.

However, export volumes rose by 12.6% (y-o-y) to 6.8 million tonnes, reflecting improved rail logistics by Transnet.

Accounting for 7.78% of total mining production, copper, manganese ore, and nickel were some of the other big production losers.

In terms of price performance in September, gold was 42.7% higher year-on-year at $3,667/oz, followed by platinum (+48.2% at $1,430/oz), palladium (+15.9% at $1,181/oz), and rhodium (+50.7% at $7,130/oz).

In contrast, coal prices declined by 21% to $85.9/t, while iron ore rose by 10.6% to $106.4/t.

The MCSA says that the mining sector is likely to grow by 2.5% quarter-on-quarter (q-o-q) in Q3 2025, following a 4.7% growth in Q2.