Mining sector takes a steep knock

A strained mining sector, pulled down by the worst gold production performance in six years, will weigh on GDP growth in 2018.

Mining production fell a higher-than-expected 4.8% year on year in December, after a 5.6% contraction in November, data from Statistics SA showed on Thursday. Economists polled by macro-economics website Trading Economics expected a contraction of 0.6%.

The sector was hard hit by the continued strike at SibanyeStillwater and intermittent electricity from Eskom towards the end of 2018.

For 2018 as a whole, mining production was 1.6% lower compared with 2017.

Seasonally adjusted mining production decreased 1% in the fourth quarter compared with the previous quarter.

Most subsectors reported lower production in December compared to a year earlier.

The largest negative contributors were gold, down 31%; iron ore, down 14.3%; “other” metallic minerals, down 18.4%; copper, down 30.8%; and chromium ore, down 9.3%.

4.8% the year-onyear drop in mining production in December, after a 5.6% contraction in November