Johannesburg- Mining production increased by 7.5% year-on-year in February 2015, according to the latest data released by Statistics SA on Thursday.
The highest positive growth rates were recorded for platinum group metals (PGMs) at 26.7%, followed by iron ore (22.6%) and manganese ore (16.8%).
The main contributors to the 7.5% increase were iron ore (contributing 4.2 percentage points), PGMs (contributing 2.8 percentage points) and manganese ore (contributing 1.1 percentage points).
Gold was a significant negative contributor, contributing -1.5 percentage points.
Seasonally adjusted mining production increased by 3.8% in February 2015 compared with January 2015. This followed month-on-month changes of -3.5% in January 2015 and 0.7% in December 2014.
Seasonally adjusted mining production decreased by 1.3% in the three months ended February 2015 compared with the previous three months. The main contributor to the 1.3% decrease was gold - contributing -1.0 percentage point.
Mineral sales
Mineral sales decreased by 14.5% year-on-year in January 2015. The largest negative growth rates were recorded for PGMs (-29,1%), so-called other non-metallic minerals (-27.5%), copper (-26.3%) and so-called other metallic minerals (-25.7%).
The major contributors to the 14.5% decrease were PGMs (contributing -6.8 percentage points), iron ore (contributing -2.9 percentage points) and gold (contributing -1.7 percentage points).
Seasonally adjusted mineral sales at current prices decreased by 5.1% in January 2015 compared with December 2014. This followed month-on-month changes of 1.1% in December 2014 and -4.5% in November 2014.