Mining production in South Africa plunged by 10.7% year-on-year in September 2026, following a revised 11.7% slump in August, the steepest annual decline since October 2022. This marked the fifth consecutive month of downturn and at a solid pace, amid broad-based declines across categories. The main drags on mining activity were iron ore (-23.7%), coal (-13.4%), PGMs (-9.9%) and diamonds (-63.1%). Output also declined significantly for gold (-7.5%), building materials (-12.5%), other metallic minerals (-11.6%), other non-metallic minerals (-9.5%) and nickel (-7.7%). Meanwhile, production increased for chromium ore (+13.1%) and manganese ore (+12.8%). On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, mining production rose by 2.8%, rebounding from a revised 4.8% decline previously. Seasonally adjusted mining production dropped by 6% in the third quarter of 2026 compared with the second quarter of 2026.