Listen, for the past five years every second uncle in the family WhatsApp group has been shouting “mining is finished, my bru, go learn coding!” while forwarding a blurry meme of a robot welding. Well, Uncle Boet, put down the Castle Lite and grab your hard hat, because 2025 is serving serious plot twists on the Platinum Belt and up in the Northern Cape. The mines aren’t just “back” – they’re practically sending out party invitations and free lift-club offers.
First, platinum is having a mid-life crisis glow-up. The rand is still doing its usual drunk-kangaroo impression, hydrogen fuel-cell demand is climbing faster than load-shedding stages, and suddenly every car manufacturer from Stuttgart to Shanghai wants more of the shiny stuff that comes out of Rustenburg and Mokopane. Anglo American Platinum didn’t just postpone closures – they actually reopened shafts everyone thought were deader than BlackBerry phones. Impala Platinum is throwing money at new projects like it’s December salary and bonus combined. Translation: drillers, blasters, fitters, and even the guy who can operate a rock breaker without turning it into an expensive metal sculpture are being fought over like the last kota at month-end.
Up in the Northern Cape, the iron-ore gods are smiling again too. Transnet finally figured out that trains work better when the cables aren’t stolen, so the Sishen–Saldanha railway is moving ore like it’s 2008 and Jacob Zuma still had a sense of humour. Kumba Iron Ore is hiring everyone from dump-truck drivers who can reverse without prayer to geologists who can tell hematite from a boerewors roll. And because the universe has a sense of irony, some of the same towns that were ghosting people five years ago now have “Urgently Wanted” signs that look like they were designed by a matriculant with too much Red Bull and Canva access.
But before you quit your call-centre job and buy R40 000 worth of brand-new overalls on Temu, let’s keep it real. The new mining isn’t your grandad’s mining. Today you need to know how to update your phone without calling your niece, pass a dope test (yes, even for dagga now, sorry), and not laugh when they say “autonomous haul trucks”. The good news? The money is still stupid. A decent artisan underground can clear R50 000–R80 000 a month faster than you can say “overtime on public holidays”. Even entry-level operators with just a competent B certificate and the ability to stay awake for 12 hours are starting at R25 000 plus housing allowance, medical, and enough bonus to make your friends hate you in December.
And let’s talk about the towns for a second – because Hotazel, Kathu, and Thabazimbi are suddenly the new Sandton for anyone with a trade. Houses that were standing empty since 2019 are now going for prices that make Joburg estate agents blush. Local spaza shops have swapped Omo for champagne, and the only thing moving faster than the ore trains is the price of a plate of pap en vleis at the local shisanyama. One oke in Postmasburg told me he sold his 1998 Corolla bakkie for R120 000 because “everyone needs a pickup now, my bru”.
There’s also a whole new wave of jobs that didn’t even exist ten years ago. Battery minerals are the new gold rush – zinc, manganese, and even some sneaky lithium projects are popping up in the Northern Cape like load-shedding schedules. That means electricians who understand solar farms, data analysts who can make sense of drone surveys, and – wait for it – actual drone pilots who get paid more than some accountants to fly over the veld taking pretty pictures of rocks. Yes, you can now tell your mom you’re a pilot and she’ll finally stop crying at family braais.
So yes, Uncle Boet on the family WhatsApp was half-right for once – just five years early and with way too many exclamation marks. Mining jobs in 2025 are like that ex who suddenly got a glow-up and started earning in dollars: everyone’s sliding into the DMs again. If you’ve got steel toes, a clear criminal record, and can survive living in places where the nightlife is a braai and two doppies, the Platinum Belt and Northern Cape are basically screaming “come fetch this bag”.