South Africa’s mining sector delivered its strongest quarterly output performance in three years during the first quarter of 2026, with industry body Minerals Council South Africa reporting that total production volumes grew 4.3% compared to the same period in 2025. The recovery was led by the platinum group metals and chrome ore sub-sectors, both of which benefited significantly from the extended period of stable electricity supply that has characterised South Africa’s grid situation since late 2025.
The Minerals Council noted that mining operations had lost an estimated R1.2 billion per month to load shedding at the peak of South Africa’s electricity crisis, and that the disappearance of these disruptions has allowed producers to restore production schedules that had been persistently disrupted by power outages affecting underground hoisting, ventilation and processing operations.
Platinum group metals production, the most internationally significant component of South Africa’s mining output and a critical input into catalytic converters and a growing range of green hydrogen fuel cell applications, increased 6.8% year-on-year. Prices for PGMs remain elevated by historical standards as the automotive industry’s transition to electric vehicles — which use far less platinum and palladium than internal combustion engines — has proceeded more slowly than initially projected.
Gold production, by contrast, rose only modestly at 1.2%, with ageing deep-level operations continuing to face structural challenges related to ore grade decline and rising extraction costs. Chrome ore — of which South Africa is the world’s dominant supplier — grew 9.1% in response to strong demand from the global stainless steel industry.
The Minerals Council called on the government to sustain its focus on energy security, noting that the mining sector’s performance improvement is directly correlated with improved grid stability and that any return to load shedding would immediately reverse the gains.
