South Africa’s mining sector—once the undisputed engine of the national economy—is facing a severe crisis, with a fresh wave of job losses threatening thousands of livelihoods and casting a long shadow over the country’s economic future.
Just this week, Glencore announced formal consultations on extensive job cuts across its ferrochrome and vanadium operations, including the Boshoek and Wonderkop smelters, the Lion smelter, and the Rhovan vanadium facilities.
South Africa is a significant player in the global ferrochrome market, holding around 80% of the world’s known chrome ore reserves.
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The move comes as the company faces a host of challenges, including power cuts, increasing electricity costs and broader economic pressures that have affected the viability of its joint venture smelter operations with Merafe Resources.
The closure could result in the loss of up to 2,425 direct jobs, with the National Union of Mineworkers estimating as many as 17,000 indirect jobs at risk in supplier and service industries. According to Willie Venter, deputy general secretary of the Solidarity union, Glencore has already seen ten of its 22 furnaces either permanently or temporarily closed.
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Adding to the distress, Assmang’s Beeshoek iron-ore mine is poised to shut down after the sudden withdrawal of ArcelorMittal South Africa as its sole buyer, endangering 688 jobs and further destabilising the iron-ore market.
The mining sector’s contribution to GDP has fallen sharply, from 11% in 1993 to just 4.8% in 2023. Over the past year alone, nearly 12,000 formal jobs have been lost in the PGM sector, according to the Minerals Council.
The reality, however, remains stark: gold mining employment declined by 2,296 positions despite a high gold price that peaked at an all-time record in October 2024, and real mining GDP has declined in eight of the last 13 quarters, underscoring the sector’s deep-rooted challenges.
Complicating this already difficult environment, Rio Tinto is conducting a strategic review of its Richards Bay Minerals (RBM) operations in KwaZulu-Natal, a move initiated by new CEO Simon Trott as part of an operational realignment.
With approximately 5,000 employees, RBM is KwaZulu-Natal’s largest taxpayer and a crucial pillar of the provincial economy. The local operation is facing an uncertain future following the announcement. In recent years, RMB faced significant challenges such as the assassination of its general manager and acts of violence, which ultimately prompted the company to declare a state of emergency.
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The human cost behind these numbers cannot be overstated. Mining towns across South Africa, many already struggling from decades of job losses—over 442,000 jobs lost since the late 1980s, equating to roughly 35 jobs lost every day—face further decline. Families lose not just income but hope, local economies contract, and social issues such as crime and poverty intensify.
These challenges are worsened by systemic issues—unreliable electricity supply, high operational costs, logistical bottlenecks at ports, and regulatory uncertainty. Eskom’s ongoing energy crisis alone drives up costs and disrupts production schedules. Transnet’s freight and port inefficiencies compound export difficulties, making South African minerals less competitive globally.
In response, unions have urged government intervention, calling for electricity-cost relief, infrastructure investment, and policies that promote beneficiation to retain value-added processing domestically.