Mining has long been part of the development and advancement of South Africa’s economy and has contributed largely in making the strongest economy on the continent.

South Africa’s mining industry is the country’s largest employer, with around 460,000 employees and a further 400,000 employed by the suppliers of goods and services to the industry.

Ownership, access and opportunity in regards to the country’s mineral resources are regulated by the Minerals and Petroleum Resources Development Act of 2002, which recognises the state’s custodianship over the country’s mineral resources.  As the country’s second largest earner in terms of the value of total sales after gold, coal provides 6.1% of the country’s total merchandise exports. South Africa is the sixth largest holder of coal in the world with 31 billion tonnes of recoverable coal reserves, equivalent to 11 % of the world’s total coal reserves.

Although most of the coal is consumed by the South African energy sector, with 77 % of the country’s primary energy needs provided by coal, 69 million tonnes of coal per annum are exported via Richard’s Bay Coal Terminal (RBCT). Historically the majority of this was exported to Europe, but Asia (India and China) has in recent years become the preferred market.