SA Mining's Price Boom Fails to Deliver Production Growth, PwC Report Finds - Miningmx

AI desk brief

PwC’s SA Mine 2026 shows South Africa’s gold and PGM sector is still failing to convert the recent price boom into meaningful output growth: mining production rose just 2% y/y to end-June and remained about 5% below 2019 levels, even as revenue jumped 38% to R786bn, EBITDA rose 74% to R214bn and free cash flow climbed 147%. Average dollar gold and platinum prices in the period were 50% and 80% higher respectively, helping lift gold company revenue 41% to R185bn and PGM revenue 59% to R429bn.

The report is constructive for medium-term supply only at the margin: gold reserves rose from 68moz to 77moz and average mine life lengthened to 29 years, while PGM reserves increased from 261m 4E oz to 298m and mine life extended to 43 years. But PwC also flags logistics bottlenecks at Transnet and regulatory uncertainty as key brakes on new production, suggesting higher prices are supporting existing operations more than triggering a broad supply response.