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                                      Statistical release
P2001

Census of mining

1996
Embargo: 11:00
Date: 22 July 1999

Read the following notice with regard to the eleven official languages  

© Copyright,1999

Users may apply or process this data, provided Statistics South Africa is acknowledged as the original source of the data; that it is specified that the application and/or analysis is the result of the user’s independent processing of the data; and that neither the basic data nor any reprocessed version or application thereof may be sold or offered for sale in any form whatsoever.

Dr F M Orkin
Head: Statistics South Africa 

CONTENTS

KEY FINDINGS

EXPLANATORY NOTES

TABLES

Table 1 - Employment, salaries and wages according to type of mine

Table 2 - Income and net profit according to type of mine

Table 3 - Stores consumed or purchases and transfers-in and sales, transfers-out

and work done according to type of mine

Table 4 - Opening value of fixed assets and capital expenditure on new assets according

to type of mine

Table 5 - Principal statistics 1984 to 1996

Table 6 - Employment and employees’ remuneration according to type of mine

Table 7 - Selected income statement items according to type of mine : Debits - Working

cost account

Table 8 - Selected income statement items according to type of mine : Debits - Capital

account

Table 9 - Selected income statement items according to by type of mine : Credits

Glossary

A complete set of Stats SA publications is available in the Stats SA Library, and in
the following public libraries
:

State Library, Pretoria                                    South African Library, Cape Town
Natal Society Library, Pietermaritzburg            Library of Parliament, Cape Town
Bloemfontein Public Library                            Johannesburg Public Library

GOLD AND URANIUM MINES CONTRIBUTE 43,0% TO TOTAL VALUE OF MINING SALES IN 1996

According to the results of the 1996 mining census, including the former TBVC states, the total value of mining sales was R60 082,0 million, with the gold and uranium mines contributing R25 830,8 million or 43,0% and coal and lignite mines R12 669,9 million or 21,1% to the total value of mining sales.

Mines employed 563 253 workers in 1996, whereas the total value of salaries and wages paid was R17 982,1 million. The gold and uranium mines are the largest providers of employment in the mining sector with 345 797 workers, as on the last pay-day in June 1996.  

The total net profit of the mining sector was R12 021,9 million for 1996. The largest contributor to the net profit of R12 021,9 million was the ‘other ‘ mines (R4 802,2 million or 39,9%), followed by gold and uranium mines (R4 243,6 million or 35,3%).

Total capital expenditure on new assets by the mining sector was R6 202,5 million in 1996, with gold and uranium mines spending R2 735,1 million or 44,1% on new assets.

EXPLANATORY NOTES

1. GENERAL 

Stats SA periodically undertakes a census of mining. The last census which was undertaken was for the 1996 census year and this statistical news release contains principal statistics concerning this census.

The information shown in the tables is preliminary and relates to private establishments classified as mining concerns.

Detailed data will be published in a report (No. 20-01-01 (1996)) in due course and will be obtainable from the Government Printing Works, Pretoria or Cape Town.

2. SCOPE OF THE CENSUS 

2.1 For purposes of the census, mining means - 

- any activities regarding underground and surface mining, including stone, clay and sand quarries/pits, boreholes (except for water) and salt-pans, as well as all supplementary activities for the dressing and beneficiating of ores and other crude materials such as crushing, screening, washing, cleaning, grading, milling, flotation, melting, pelleting, topping and other preparations needed to render the material marketable;

- restoration, rehabilitation, reshaping, revegetating and reclaiming of areas affected by mining activities; and

- any administrative, clerical, sales, research or other activities directly related to the aforementioned activities.

2.2 The following activities are excluded

- work performed on a contract or fee basis in the development and preparation of mining properties and sites such as drilling, shaft-sinking, tunnelling, cementation and mining construction work by outside contractors;

- the refining of gold and other minerals on a contract or fee basis; and

- exploration/prospecting on a contract or fee basis.

3. COMPARABILITY 

As from 1996 the Census of Mining includes information of the former TBVC states and the results are therefore, not strictly comparable with the results of 1990 and 1993.

Information regarding employment and salaries and wages in this statistical release are obtained from a complete census of mines, whereas the information published in the statistical release Survey of Total Employment and Earnings - P0271 are based on a sample survey conducted by the Minerals Bureau.

4. CENSUS YEAR 

Completed questionnaires were rendered by mining establishments in respect of their financial years which ended on any date between 1 January 1996 and 31 December 1996.

5. PARTICULARS 

Details of employment were called for as at a specific day, namely the last pay-day in June 1996, while the rest of the data in this statistical news release refer to the financial year of the mining establishments.

6. ABBREVIATIONS AND SYMBOLS USED 

R = rand

% = percentage

0 = nil or less than half the final figure shown

Glossary 

Establishment The basic unit for the collection of information is the establishment (at a particular location). In the majority of cases, premises under the same ownership or management in which one type of mining activity is carried on, is regarded as an establishment. Premises under the same ownership or management in which two or more types of activities are carried on, are regarded as two or more establishments (branches), provided separate records are available. However, should one type of activity be relatively unimportant, it is classified under the main activity, even though separate accounting records may be available.

Enterprise An enterprise is a legal entity consisting of one or more establishments. They need not necessarily all be mining establishments, but some may be classifiable under other sectors of the economy, such as manufacturing and construction.

Employment Employment includes – 

Employment excludes –

Salaries and wages Salaries and wages include – 

Salaries and wages exclude –

Staff auxiliary Staff auxiliary services and payments in kind to employees include - services

Staff auxiliary services and payments in kind to employees exclude –

Stores consumed or Stores consumed or purchases and transfers in of materials, fuel, electricity, etc.

purchases and include - transfers in

Income Income includes –

Sales and transfers - Sales and transfer-out and work done include -out and work done

Sales and transfer-out and work done exclude –

Opening value of Opening value of fixed assets is the book value of fixed assets at the beginning of the fixed assets financial year.

Capital expen- Capital expenditure on new assets is expenditure on the erection of new buildings and works;

diture on new additions to and alterations of existing buildings and works; works in progress capitalised;

assets new plant and machinery and used plant and machinery, if imported by or on behalf of the establishment, and paid to outside contractors/concerns or which was done by the establishment itself.

TABLES

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