Mining takes another knock at the start of 2019
Mining production decreased by 3.3% year-on-year in January, hit by prolonged strikes and slower global growth
The mining sector, which has come under increased pressure in recent months, took another dive at the start of 2019. Production has been hard hit by continuous strikes in the gold mines led by the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu), as well as slowing global growth. Load-shedding has also threatened to further dent the sector. Mining production decreased slightly less than expected, by 3.3% year-on-year in January, after a 4.1% contraction in December, revised from 4.8%, data from Statistics SA showed on Thursday. Economists polled by Bloomberg expected a contraction of 3.8%. Most sub-sectors reported lower production in January compared to a year earlier. The largest negative contributors were iron ore, down 27.7%; gold, down 22.5%; diamonds down 37%; coal down 6.4%; and chromium ore down 7.3%.
Compared to December 2018, mining increased by 0.2% in January. Stats SA reports that its mining production index, which was set to 100 points in 2015, was 84.7 i...
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