Gold prices soar past $5 000, benefitting South African bullion producers and the rand

The current rally in the gold price to new higher levels above $5 000 per ounce bode well for South Africa’s economy and local bullion producers, analysts said on Monday as jittery global investors whetted their appetite for safe haven assets due to international trade and geopolitical upheavals.

Gold prices rocketed past $5 000 per ounce Monday morning as the US Dollar weakened against other international and emerging currencies. Appetite for South African assets also yielded up, with the rand breaching the R16 to the dollar threshold, leaving analysts’ eyebrows for further prospects leveled at the R15:$1 level.

Market analyst Simon Brown told Business Report that the rally in the price of gold would be beneficial for the South African economy and local gold producers. These include Pan African Resources, Sibanye-Stillwater, Harmony Gold and Gold Fields which operates South Deep mine.

“The rally in the gold price is very good for SA miners as they're making a fortune. The economy also economy benefits form increased tax and stronger ZAR,” said Brown.

With local gold miners reporting their December 2025 half year earnings and trading updates shortly, eyes across the industry will be on how sustained the rally in the bullion price will be. In the year on year comparative, gold prices are up a significant 48%, according to Bruce Williamson, resource analyst at Integral Asset Management.

“Year on year the dollar price is up around 48% and if gold stays at $5 000 through to June 2026 then they are looking at a gold price (1H-June 2026) that will be up 21.3% of the Dec 2025 period, and up 50% on the 6 months to June 2025. Earnings and cashflows will be exceptional,” Williamson said in an interview.

It was not just a matter of breaching the $5 000 per ounce mark, but a confidence boosting rally that also flirted shy of the $5 100 per ounce threshold. With global upheavals persisting amid dimming prospects that US President Donald Trump will slow down on confrontations with international peers, global investors are increasingly shifting attention to safe haven assets such as gold.

Added Williamson: “Very simply, if you are not long of gold, then you are long of politicians! And there are many reasons not to trust global political leadership; there is much uncertainty around the military build-up in the Middle East, the unfinished Russian/Ukraine war, the uneasy Israeli/Hamas ceasefire, ad hoc Trump targets, tariff uncertainty, and the West having been out-foxed by China with respect to abundant cheap energy and control of global metal supply chains.” 

Analysts at SP Angel said in a research note that the Monday’s gold price rally came amid “a strong rally across the precious metals spectrum,” with the price of platinum, of which South Africa is a big producer also quickening by 2.68% to around $2 814 in afternoon trade. Silver also hit new record highs of $110/oz, pacing up 7% palladium also rallied.

“The move is being supported by a weaker dollar, which was hit by a suspected coordinated intervention in the Yen between the US and Japan overnight,” said the SP Angel analysts.

High gold prices are turbocharging small-scale artisanal mining across Africa

Other African countries that have significant gold production such as Ghana, Mali and Zimbabwe also stand to benefit from the gold price surge. However, with artisanal miners constituting a portion of bullion production in South Africa and Zimbabwe, some of the windfall could flow through unofficial channels.

Data shows that artisanal and small-scale mining produces up to 20% of global gold supply with 70% thought to be undeclared.  Artisanal miners will be ramping up production, especially in Zimbabwe, West Africa and elsewhere, with this windfall nonetheless expected to fuel a pickup in economic activity in the respective markets.

BUSINESS REPORT