The mining industry recorded a 2.2% annual revenue increase in 2015 compared to 2012, according to a report by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) released yesterday.
Comparing 2012 and 2015, large increases were reported for coal and lignite (R21.9 billion), manganese (R6.8 billion) and diamonds (R6.4 billion), while large decreases were reported for platinum group metal ore (R15.5 billion), iron ore (R7.4 billion) and gold and uranium ore (R3.3 billion).
According to Stats SA, Mpumalanga achieved the largest income from sales of goods in the industry (28.8% of the industry total). Second came North West (21.3%), followed by the Northern Cape (17.5%) and Limpopo (11.4%).
Employment in the mining industry in 2015 declined, recording a loss of 47 998 jobs. The biggest losses were in the gold and uranium ore and platinum group metal ore sectors, corresponding to decreases in income reported for those sectors. However, the platinum group metal ore sector also employed the largest number of people (40.6% of the total number of people employed in the industry).
The North West was the largest contributor to employment in the industry (37.8%), followed by Mpumalanga (22.2%), Gauteng (15.2%) and Limpopo (10.5%).
