SA mines to increase power usage to 95%

SA's power supply has stabilised since February

By Frank Nxumalo
The South African government has confirmed that Eskom, its power utility will increase electricity supply to mining companies to 95% of their requirements with immediate effect.

Department of minerals and energy affairs spokesperson Sputnik Ratau said energy minister Buyelwa Sonjica will make a formal announcement at a media conference in Pretoria tomorrow. This follows media reports that Sonjica had made similar statements during her recent trip overseas.

The government’s move was met with jubilation by trade unions. The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said it was 'excited by the move'.

"We are very excited because that has been our initiative all along. We are hopeful that that the conditions attached to the plan will not lead to the retrenchments of our members," Lesiba Seshoko, the spokesperson of the NUM said.

Little too late those retrenched
"Solidarity is very happy that Eskom is increasing its electricity supply to mines to 95%. Although we believe that it comes a little too late for thousands of contractors have already been retrenched, we hope it will be sustainable," Jaco Kleynhans, the spokesperson of trade union Solidarity said.

Kleynhans said more than 2 000 mining contractors had lost their jobs because of the electricity crisis. Eskom reduced the amount of electricity it supplies to South African mines to 90% of their needs at the height of the power crisis in January this year.

This not only sparked fears of massive job losses across the sector as mining houses struggled to break even, Gold Fields, South Africa second biggest gold producer after AngloGold Ashanti announced plans to lay-off nearly 7 000 workers on its mines. Labour unions also say that thousands of mine workers on fixed term contracts were actually retrenched.