Manganese shot from sixth to fourth place behind the platinum family, coal and gold as South Africa’s most valuable mining product in April.
Manganese ore sales rocketed 145% from R830-million in March to more than R2-billion in April, Statistics South Africa reported yesterday. Manganese sales this April were nine times the R235-million recorded in April last year.
This rapid rise carried manganese past iron ore, whose month- on-month sales rose 15 percent to R1.8-billion. Manganese also overtook “other non-metallic minerals”, their sales slumping 33 percent to R1.6-billion.
Manganese has been boosted by its price rocketing from 7.25 a ton at the start of the year to 17 a ton in July. Also, BHP Billiton and Assmang have ramped up production while Kumba’s iron production has slipped. Platinum coming off a near $2 250/oz peak in March to about 2000 dragged total mining sales down nearly 2 percent to R25-billion. Platinum contributed nearly a third of the country’s mining sales, coal slightly more than a fifth, gold 15 percent, manganese 8 percent and iron ore 7 percent.
Robert Laing Published:Jul 11, 2008
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