The highest-paid miner gets over R40k per month.
South Africa-based mining company Sibanye-Stillwater has increased its entry-level salary for mineworkers, according to the group’s 2025 integrated report.
The report revealed that the group pays its mineworkers between R28 000 and R40 000 per month. But this is nothing compared to the R14 million guaranteed remuneration package of its CEO, Richard Stewart, received during the same period.
Sibanye-Stillwater was founded in 2013 and listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) the same year. The mining company specialises in gold and platinum group metals mining, including platinum, palladium and rhodium.
R21k entry-level salary
“Our South African operations are located across multiple provinces and are at different stages in their lifecycle,” read the report.
“Our approach is to ensure our employees receive fair wages that support a dignified standard of living, while ensuring the sustainability of our operations, and thereby preserving jobs.”
According to the report, Sibanye-Stillwater increased the entry-level salary for “surface workers” to R21 807 (including guaranteed cost-to-company and benefits). The group said this amount is “significantly above both the statutory minimum wage of R5 890 per month (as of 1 March 2026) and prevailing living-wage benchmarks”.
Sibanye-Stillwater pays miners most
The group acknowledged that its miners get paid higher salaries compared to “surface workers”, which could be employees in administration, marketing, finance, and so on.
“Underground employees – who comprise the majority of employees at this level (88%) – receive higher remuneration, reflecting the nature of their roles,” said Sibanye-Stillwater.
The group has increased its entry-level salary to R18 984 per month (cost-to-company). When taking into account benefits worth R5 755 and variable income worth R3 371, the lowest-paid miner gets a remuneration package of R28 110 per month. This is an increase from R27 248 paid in 2024.
R40k remuneration for some miners
Sibanye-Stillwater’s underground category 8 employees seem to be the highest-paid miners, according to the group’s report.
One category 8 miner gets a total remuneration package of R40 435 per month, which includes the cost of company worth R26 071, benefits worth R7 336 and variable income of R7 028.
“Variable income includes the average incentive and average overtime earned by each category in the last 12 months,” said the group.
Salary elsewhere in the world
Sibanye-Stillwater also operates in the United States, Zimbabwe and Australia, among other places.
According to the report, the entry-level salary for its United States operations is $61,271 per annum, and using the exchange rate of R17.88/US$ provided in the report, this is approximately R1.1 million.
For its Australian operations, the company has an entry-level salary of A$170,546 per annum; at the exchange rate of R11.52/A$ provided in the report, this is approximately R1.9 million.
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