PGMs, diamonds drag down SA mining output in January
South Africa’s mining production dropped 1.9% in January, making it the twelfth consecutive month of year-on-year decline, data released by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) show. Platinum group metals (PGMs) and diamonds were the main negative contributors. PGMs output eased 15.2% contributing -3.5 percentage points, while diamonds production was 15.5% lower contributing -0.9 percentage points. However, iron-ore and coal were significant positive contributors with the former’s output increasing 12.1% contributing 1.4 percentage points and the