Gold sales jump 126% as mineral sales hit R86.1bn in June

Statistics South Africa data published on 14 August 2026 showed the value of South African mineral sales reaching R86.1bn in June 2026, up 27.2% from R67.7bn a year earlier. Gold sales rose almost 126%, contributing 17.1 percentage points to the overall increase, the single largest contributor. Platinum group metal sales rose 27%, adding a further 7.3 percentage points, while chromium ore sales jumped 49%. Iron ore sales fell 16.1% over the same period, a drag of 1.7 percentage points, reflecting the weaker export prices and lower Chinese demand also visible in Kumba Iron Ore's results around the same time.

On a seasonally adjusted basis, sales rose 2.7% month-on-month in June after a 4.4% decline in May, while the second quarter as a whole was down 1.6% against the first on the same seasonally adjusted basis.

Value and volume, pulling apart

The June sales data, read alongside the same day's production figures showing a 4% year-on-year output decline, crystallised the story that had run through South African mining data for most of 2026: as one analysis of the release put it, "the volume of production is under pressure, but the value of mineral sales is being supported by strong prices, particularly for gold and PGMs." Gold's near-126% sales increase on production that was itself falling year-on-year left no doubt that price alone was driving the headline number.

A fragile kind of strength

For an economy that relies on mining royalties, payroll taxes and foreign exchange earnings from the sector, a 27% jump in sales value looked, on paper, like unambiguous good news. But because that growth rested so heavily on gold and PGM prices that had already shown themselves capable of falling more than 12% in a single month earlier in the year, the June data represented a high point built on a foundation analysts increasingly recognised as unstable.

Treasury officials tracking the figures for budget purposes noted that a single month's gold sales growth of this magnitude, while welcome for royalty and tax receipts, could not be relied upon to persist given how sharply the underlying gold price itself had already fallen and recovered within the same year.

Sources

• Eyewitness News: Gold shines bright as SA mineral sales skyrocket 27% to R86.1bn, 14 Aug 2026

Photo: Gold bullion; gold sales rose almost 126% year-on-year in South Africa's June 2026 mineral sales data. Stevebidmead, Wikimedia Commons, CC0.