SA’s mining industry shed 12,877 jobs last year as low platinum group metals (PGM) prices, rising electricity costs and ageing gold mines resulted in four consecutive quarters of declining employment.
This took the total number of people employed in the mining sector to 468,898 at end- 2024, compared with 481,775 at end-2023.
The drop in mining employment last year was nearly double the size of AngloGold Ashanti’s total permanent workforce and double that of Gold Fields’ in 2023.
Stats SA’s latest quarterly employment statistics show that 3,180 workers in the mining sector lost their jobs in the three months to end-December, driven primarily by a drop in gold sector jobs.
The shrinking workforce of SA’s gold miners in the final quarter was particularly concerning given the profitability increases reported by several companies in the sector as average gold prices stood about 23% higher than in 2023, said Minerals Council chief economist Hugo Pienaar.
Harmony Gold reported record dividend payouts for the six months to end-December with operating free cash flow rising by 46% year on year to a new half-year record of R10.39bn.
AngloGold Ashanti also reported a huge increase in free cash flow last year to $942m from $109m in 2023 while adjusted earnings before interest, depreciation, tax and amortisation surged 93%.
Gold Fields cited gold prices as the primary driver behind its improved annual results with profit for the year from continuing operations increasing 73% to $1.291bn.
Despite hopes the high price of bullion would stabilise employment in the gold sector, SA gold mining slashed 2,348 jobs in the final quarter compared to only 832 in the nongold sectors while prices continued to hit record highs.
Overall, however, last year’s mining labour market was hardest hit by the PGM sector. More than three-quarters of industry job losses in 2024 were in nongold sectors, most of which were due to PGM miners restructuring.
Almost 7,000 of the 9,890 retrenchments in nongold mining last year occurred in the second quarter, reflecting a wave of restructurings and retrenchments as miners cut back on production and shrunk their workforces in response to low PGM prices.
After reporting a 71% drop in profit for its 2023 financial year, Anglo American Platinum began a process in February to retrench 3,700 employees, hoping to reduce its costs by R5bn.
Impala Platinum also restructured its operations in the first half of the year and fired 4,000 workers while 2,500 more lost their jobs at Sibanye-Stillwater’s PGM operations in SA.
There is hope that higher prices could help stabilise employment in the PGM sector, by far the biggest employer in mining last year.
Since the start of the year, rhodium has gained about 25%, and deep platinum market deficits could support a lift in prices in the medium term, according to the World Platinum Investment Council.
Last year was a tough one for the mining sector, said Pienaar, highlighting profitability pressures, low levels of fixed investment and feeble growth in the country’s mineral output.
The result was nearly 13,000 retrenchments and a slower rise in salaries and bonuses, with Stats SA recording a 2.9% increase in mineworkers’ earnings last year compared to the previous year’s 9.1% improvement.
With geopolitical tension and escalating tariff wars threatening global trade and economic growth this year, SA’s export-driven mining industry continues to be vulnerable even as an improved electricity supply and logistics performance promise some relief.
The council called for a more business-friendly regulatory environment to offset these risks and capitalise on the global drive for critical minerals to unlock the potential of SA’s mineral reserves.
It said the industry needed a critical minerals strategy which incentivises more exploration and the launch of the long-awaited online cadastral system expected in mid-2025.
It urged the department of mineral & petroleum resources to speed up licensing processes, reduce red tape and boost investor sentiment through the “efficient and transparent administration of prospecting and mining rights”.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.