Gold, operational costs drag down South Africa’s December mining production

South Africa’s mining production decreased by 1.6% year-on-year in 2018, following a 3.9% year-on-year increase in 2017 and a decrease of 3.7% year-on-year in 2016, Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) revealed on Thursday. In December, mining production decreased by 4.8% year-on-year, with the main negative contributors being gold production, which contracted by 31% and contributed -4.6 percentage points; iron-ore production, which contracted by 14.3% and contributed -2.1 percentage points; copper production, which fell by 30.8% and contributed -0.3 of a percentage point; and chromium ore, which was down 9.3% and contributed -0.3 of a percentage point.