South Africa and critical minerals: what it produces, sells, buys and controls
South Africa is the largest producer of 3 of the 39 critical minerals with country data on this site (platinum, chromium, manganese), and among the top three for 6, in the production series used here, which is mining for most minerals and smelting or refining for some. The export-control register lists no measure by South Africa on a critical mineral. On the other side of the ledger, one supplier provides half or more of its imports on 2 critical-mineral customs lines.
This profile puts several tables the site already publishes side by side for one country: production and reserves from the US Geological Survey, exports and imports from customs data, the dated register of export controls, and what the data show after earlier controls. It is one of 11 country profiles. South Africa has one because it is a top-three producer of 6 critical minerals and the largest producer of 3 critical minerals. The rule for the whole set is at the foot of the page. For every commodity South Africa produces, not only the critical ones, see the country page for South Africa.
On this page: What it produces · What it sells · What it buys · Export controls · Method and limits
What South Africa produces
The critical minerals for which South Africa ranks in the top five producers, in the latest year on file. Equal outputs share a rank and are marked tied. The series is mine output for most of them; for a few it is smelter or refinery output (the line under each name says which). Share of reserves is South Africa's share of the world reserves the USGS reports (blank for aluminum, whose reserves are bauxite, shown on the bauxite row); years of reserves divides South Africa's own reserves by its own annual output, and is shown only where the USGS prints both. The last column counts how many of the four risk-matrix conditions the mineral meets, out of those that can be measured for it.
| Mineral | Rank | Share of world output | Output | Share of reserves | Years of own reserves | Risk conditions met |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Platinum | 1 | 71% | 120 t | 83%* | — | 3 of 4 |
| Chromium | 1 | 45% | 23 million t | 29%* | 15 (world 24) | 3 of 4 |
| Manganese | 1 | 38% | 7.6 million t | 31% | 72 (world 90) | 2 of 4 |
| Palladium | 2 | 37%† | 70 t | 83%* | — | 1 of 4 |
| Zirconium | 2 | 23% | 270,000 t | 7.6%* | — | 0 of 4 |
| Titanium | 3 | 14% | 1.3 million t | 5.7% | 22 (world 53) | 1 of 4 |
| Vanadium | 4 | 4.4%† | 5,000 t | 2.4% | 104 (world 189) | 2 of 4 |
| Fluorspar | 4 | 4.1% | 410,000 t | 12% | 100 (world 33) | 4 of 4 |
Source: USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026; risk conditions from the critical risk matrix. An asterisk marks a world reserves figure the USGS gives as a lower bound, so the share is an upper estimate. A dagger marks a world total that the USGS gives only as the sum of the countries that report, so the share is higher than it would be against a full world total. Platinum and palladium share one platinum-group reserves figure, and zirconium reserves are ZrO2 content while output is gross weight.
What South Africa sells abroad
Critical minerals for which South Africa is among the five largest exporters by value on the commodity's main customs line. A customs line is a product definition, such as an ore, a refined metal or a chemical; it is not the same product as the production figure above, which is why a country can rank differently in production and exports. Uranium is left out: its trade is split across customs lines, so no one line shows who sells or buys it.
| Mineral and customs line | Rank | Share of world exports | Exports | Share in 2000 and in 2024 (HS 1992 coding) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chromium | 1 | 85% | $7.2 billion | 26% to 84% (+57.9 percentage points) |
| Manganese | 1 | 49% | $3.1 billion | 25% to 50% (+25.6 percentage points) |
| Iridium | 1 | 48% | $1.1 billion | 62% to 56% (−6.4 percentage points) |
| Zirconium | 1 | 36% | $619.7 million | — |
| Platinum | 1 | 36% | $5.3 billion | Largest exporter in both years |
| Rhodium | 1 | 36% | $2.7 billion | 39% to 47% (+7.3 percentage points) |
| Titanium | 1 | 23% | $746.2 million | 31% to 15% (−15.6 percentage points) |
| Fluorspar | 2 | 30% | $155.1 million | 11% to 41% (+30.4 percentage points) |
| Palladium | 2 | 21% | $2.8 billion | 12% to 24% (+12.1 percentage points) |
| Feldspar | 2 | 14% | $92 million | 0.2% to 14% (+14.0 percentage points) |
| Vanadium | 5 | 9.7% | $65.1 million | — |
Source: CEPII BACI, bilateral trade by customs line, exports in the latest year. The comparison with 2000 uses the HS 1992 edition of the same trade records, so its 2024 figure can differ a little from the current-coding share in the third column. It appears only for the leader and the three biggest gainers and the three biggest losers on lines whose definition is stable, and a dash means none of those; see export share history.
What South Africa buys, and from whom
Critical-mineral customs lines on which a single supplier provides 50% or more of South Africa's imports (imports of at least $50 million in the latest year). The multiple compares what every other exporter already sells to third countries with what South Africa buys from its supplier: below 1, the rest of the world's existing sales to others are smaller than this purchase. It is a size comparison from trade data, not a measure of spare capacity. The last column counts measures in the export-control register by the supplier's government that name the mineral and are in force or scheduled; the register does not say whether any of them applies to sales to South Africa.
| Mineral | Supplier | Share of imports | Bought from it | Others' sales to third countries, as a multiple | Supplier measures on record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zinc | Brazil | 66% | $92.4 million | 155× | 0 |
| Chromium | Zimbabwe | 100% | $53.9 million | 20× | 1 |
Source: CEPII BACI, imports in the latest year; see substitution coverage for the method. 1 of the 2 lines has a supplier with at least one such measure on record. Suspension notices and measures on scrap are not counted.
Export controls by South Africa
The register holds no export ban, quota, license, tax or similar measure by South Africa on a critical mineral. That is a statement about the register, which is checked by hand against published sources up to 9 October 2026, not proof that none exists.
Method and limits
- Who gets a profile. A country has one when it is a top-three producer of 5 or more critical minerals, the largest producer of 2 or more, or the largest producer of a mineral on which it has an export control of its own in force. The rule is applied to the published tables at every build, so a country joins or leaves the set when the data change. It is a way of choosing, not a ranking of importance.
- Mining versus refining. The production figures are mine output (or the USGS's stated stage for that mineral). For several critical minerals the narrower step is processing, which these figures do not show.
- Estimates. Many USGS figures are rounded, withheld or estimated, and some countries' output is not reported. See data confidence for how firm each mineral's numbers are.
- Controls. The register is checked by hand against published sources up to 9 October 2026. A listed measure is a government statement or notice, not a count of tonnes affected.
- No forecasts, no scores. Nothing here predicts supply or prices, and the tables are not combined into a ranking of risk.
- How this page is produced. The tables and sentences on it are generated from the data by the site's own build, with AI assistance in writing the templates, and each figure traces to the source named under its table. See how the site is made.
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