The South African minerals industry has absorbed the brunt of the impact of the current bout of load shedding, as three mining enterprises cut production at their mines on Monday.
South African mining companies Harmony Gold, Impala Platinum and Sibanye-Stillwater were forced to slow down production due to the ongoing nation-wide power cuts.
Harmony Gold, the third-largest gold-mining institution in South Africa, said they would only resume their underground operations once they had received a reliable power supply from the embattled energy utility.
Impala Platinum has halted production at both its Rustenburg and Marula mines, with the mines operating at 20%-30% their normal capacity due to the ongoing power cuts.
Additionally, Sibanye Stillwater, the country’s largest producer of gold, shut all its deep-level mine operations, but were looking to send their miners back by Tuesday afternoon.
Most of the energy crisis at Eskom is due to consistent shortcomings, rising costs and delays to construction at the Medupi and Kusile power plants, which have limited the operating capacity at both plants.
In a statement on Monday, President Cyril Ramaphosa said the cost of building the plants had skyrocketed since the start of construction, with only a few units in operation.
In addition, the plants are not yet operating at the levels expected.
Ramaphosa said that once construction at Medupi was completed, the plant would supply enough electricity for over a million people.
Eventually “it is expected to contribute around 4 700 megawatts into the national grid, producing enough power in a year to meet the electricity needs of more than a million people,” he said. – Bjorn Vorster
