Official figures released on Thursday signall a bad start for the second half of the year with business confidence at its lowest in more than three decades.
Summer is the season for drilling, and with the uptick in the precious metals market since 2016, companies are finally able to have the budgets to properly explore their prospects, says Brien Lundin, editor of Gold Newsletter.
The country's Reserve Bank has ordered platinum and chrome miners to surrender 80 percent of their export earnings to the central bank as the country struggles to contain a crippling dollar note shortage.
While suppliers are not required to comply with the 2017 Charter, the procurement targets for Holders indirectly require them to meet such targets to remain competitive.
South Africa's mineral resources department has withdrawn its plan to impose a moratorium suspending the issuance of new mining and prospecting rights, which had drawn a court challenge by an industry group.
