Johannesburg - South Africa's production of platinum group metals soared 66% in February, underscoring the dramatic impact of a violent strike that shut the world's largest platinum mine run by Impala Platinum in the same month last year.
Gold output fell by 4.7% in volume terms, Statistics South Africa said on Thursday.
Total mineral production rose 7% compared with the same month last year while production of non-gold minerals was 9.5% higher.
Meanwhile, Sapa reported on Thursday that the South Africa's mining industry lost over R15bn in production during the strikes in the 2012/2013 financial year.
Figures released by the SA Institute of Race Relations (SAIRR) on Thursday showed that just over R10bn was lost in gold and platinum production during the mining sector stoppages last year.
"An additional R180m was lost in coal production during the same period. The total value of production lost across all sectors of mining amounted to R15.3bn," said SAIRR spokesperson Boitumelo Sethlatswe.