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· South Africa’s gold industry is on the decline for years., as the pandemic had considerably dried up the flow of investment in the sector
· Business analysts predict that the next in line to be affected will be platinum mines
South Africa’s gold industry is on the decline for years., as the pandemic had considerably dried up the flow of investment in the sector. Business analysts predict that the next in line to be affected will be platinum mines.
South African miners have cut spending over the past decade on mines, which yield 75% of global platinum supply. The virus is accelerating that trend. Some of the mega open-cast projects bear the risk of being shelved. The western limb, the traditional heartland of South Africa’s platinum belt is also getting affected.
South Africa’s biggest export industries –gold, platinum and palladium- are in a limbo. Some of the gold mines in the country are nearing closure, which will affect a loarge number of workers. Also, close to 170 000 people are employed in platinum mining, which is also likely to hit by the pandemic.
Output from South Africa’s 130-year-old gold industry slumped as a result of the geological challenges of higher operating cost for running the world’s deepest mines. The platinum deposits area is also very high. The mines in South Africa account for about three-quarters of the world’s known resources. But the deposits were only exploited in the 1950s with a surge in demand from carmakers using the metal to cut exhaust pollution. There is more gold, but it’s deeper and requires more capital expenditure to mine them out.
Platinum output peaked in 2006. The lack of investment in deep-level western limb shafts will result in a further sharp contraction in production over the next decade or so. South African miners are making a fortune from palladium, a platinum group metal, but not enough to reinvest in mines to mine more..
