{"id":29745,"date":"2026-03-24T10:42:06","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T08:42:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&p=29745"},"modified":"2026-03-24T10:42:06","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T08:42:06","slug":"sas-gold-producers-stay-in-the-shallows-as-prices-surge","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/sas-gold-producers-stay-in-the-shallows-as-prices-surge\/","title":{"rendered":"SA’s gold producers stay in the shallows as prices surge"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Record gold prices are pushing South Africa’s (SA) beleaguered mining industry to find new \u200bways to recover the metal that sidestep the costly deep-shaft mining of old, industry executives said.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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But with \u200cno boom in new mine development expected, they’re unlikely to add enough production any time soon to significantly lift the stubbornly low output of a country that for more than a century was the world’s biggest gold producer.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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SA’s gold exploration has dropped nearly 90% from the 1990s, with spending \u200bon mineral exploration declining to just $43 million in 2025 from $900 million in 2006, according to Statistics SA.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Its gold \u200bproduction has plummeted to 90 metric tons annually from a 1970 peak of 1,000 tons on \u2060dwindling economically viable reserves, labour unrest, and the geologically taxing conditions in the world’s deepest mines.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Gold prices meanwhile have surged, climbing \u200babout 60% in 2025 to a series of all-time highs on trade tensions, central bank buying and expectations of United States rate \u200bcuts.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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But rising prices are yet to entice SA miners to invest significantly in new output.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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As prices climb, diversified miner Sibanye Stillwater is prioritising shallow, high-margin projects to boost its gold output. Its plans centre on Burnstone, a development project it says\u00a0\u200bwill be a low-cost, long-life operation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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It is also pursuing growth opportunities with its 50%-owned DRDGold, which recovers gold from waste dumps, \u200bChief Executive Officer Richard Stewart said on a February 20 results call.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Underground mining expansion remains unlikely for Harmony.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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–Reuters–<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":16343,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[44],"class_list":["post-29745","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-finance","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"","published_date":"","news_description":"SA beleaguered mining industry to find new \u200bways to recover metal","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/29745","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/29745\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29746,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/29745\/revisions\/29746"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29745"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=29745"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}