{"id":65196,"date":"2024-04-27T17:26:31","date_gmt":"2024-04-27T17:26:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/south-african-gold-miners-lost-their-edge"},"modified":"2024-04-27T18:36:45","modified_gmt":"2024-04-27T18:36:45","slug":"south-african-gold-miners-lost-their-edge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/south-african-gold-miners-lost-their-edge","title":{"rendered":"South African gold miners lost their edge"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. <\/strong><\/span>The presence of South Africa\u2019s gold miners in the global gold mining industry has shrunk in recent decades, and the sector is now too small to significantly benefit from high prices \u2013 but severely impacted by low prices.<\/p>\n

This is according to mining analyst Peter Major, who told Business Day TV that gold price fluctuations did not significantly impact the local gold mining industry just a few decades ago.<\/p>\n

He explained that South Africa had excellent deposits and the lowest costs and was the world\u2019s most efficient and largest gold producer.<\/p>\n

Therefore, low gold prices, as seen in the 1970s and 1990s, did not really affect the local gold mining industry.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we saw low prices for minerals, we used to kind of be happy because we knew that would preclude our competitors from building more mines because we were always the lowest-cost producer,\u201d Major said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were very much the most efficient producer, and most of all, we were the largest producer by far. \u201d<\/p>\n

However, this has since shifted, and South Africa is now a very small player in the global gold mining industry.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we do in gold makes no difference in the world. We don\u2019t even produce 3%,\u201d Major said.<\/p>\n

Therefore, South Africa has become a price taker, and fluctuations in gold prices have a significant impact on local gold miners\u2019 profitability.<\/p>\n

Luckily, the gold price has experienced strong growth over the past two years and hit an all-time high of $2,390 per ounce on Thursday, 12 April 2024.<\/p>\n

Gold has been over $2,000 an ounce for the past four years.<\/p>\n

While this price has benefitted South Africa, the country\u2019s gold production is so small that the benefit has been limited.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re producing not even 15% of what we produced for decades and decades,\u201d Major said.<\/p>\n

This is despite a recent uptick in mining production recorded in February of this year, which showed gold production growing by 25%.<\/p>\n

However, Major explained that this is because December and January provided a low base due to the holidays.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you look at the last three months compared to the previous three months, our gold production was actually down 2%, and that\u2019s more of an understandable and realistic number,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Down 85% over 30 years<\/b><\/p>\n

Minerals Council of South Africa chief economist Hugo Pienaar at the Mining Indaba revealed earlier this year that gold mining output has declined by over 80% over the past three decades.<\/p>\n

Pienaar explained that mining was not only the backbone of South Africa\u2019s economy in the past but still matters today.<\/p>\n

The sector employs over 477,000 South Africans and pays the government over R140 billion in tax and royalties annually.<\/p>\n

South Africa\u2019s total mining output has decreased by 13% since 1994. However, excluding gold, production has increased by 65% over the past three decades.<\/p>\n

This is because gold production has dropped significantly over the past few decades \u2013 by as much as 85.5%.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About South-Africa<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. The presence of South Africa\u2019s gold miners in the global gold mining industry has shrunk in recent decades, and the sector is now too small to significantly benefit from high prices \u2013 but severely impacted by low prices. This is according to mining analyst Peter Major, who told Business Day TV that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":65194,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,5],"tags":[274,315,275],"class_list":["post-65196","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-economy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-south-africa","tag-south-africa-2"],"yoast_head":"\nSouth African gold miners lost their edge - South Africa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The presence of South Africa\u2019s gold miners in the global gold mining industry has shrunk in recent decades, and the sect ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/south-african-gold-miners-lost-their-edge\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"South African gold miners lost their edge\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The presence of South Africa\u2019s gold miners in the global gold mining industry has shrunk in recent decades, and the sect ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/south-african-gold-miners-lost-their-edge\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"South Africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-04-27T17:26:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-04-27T18:36:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2024\/04\/sm_1714230328.729694.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"675\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/south-african-gold-miners-lost-their-edge#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/south-african-gold-miners-lost-their-edge\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"South African gold miners lost their edge\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-04-27T17:26:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-04-27T18:36:45+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/south-african-gold-miners-lost-their-edge\"},\"wordCount\":498,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/south-african-gold-miners-lost-their-edge#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2024\/04\/sm_1714230328.729694.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-South-Africa\",\"South-Africa\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"economy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/south-african-gold-miners-lost-their-edge#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/south-african-gold-miners-lost-their-edge\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/south-african-gold-miners-lost-their-edge\",\"name\":\"South African gold miners lost their edge - 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