SA miners are doing it for themselves
Mining companies, through self-help, have worked hard to avoid an Eskom apocalypse. Now they’re turning their attention to rampant cable theft and illegal mining
The mood wasn’t exactly celebratory, but Impala Platinum (Implats) spoke for South Africa’s mining industry when it acknowledged last week that Eskom-sponsored load curtailment was having less of an impact than had been feared. Reporting its year-end numbers on August 31, fittingly the last day of winter, the group’s comments were a far cry from the concerns voiced earlier this year when miners, especially the platinum group metal (PGM) firms, prepared for a collapse of the power grid.
That bowel-melting dystopia didn’t materialise; in fact, another PGM miner, Sibanye-Stillwater, said it had lost only 2% in metal from load curtailment. This compares to a 15% reduction its CEO, Neal Froneman, had forecast in February, assuming the load curtailment schedules then in force. “We’re very relieved,” says Sibanye-Stillwater’s South African regional head, Richard Stewart. “It could have been much worse.” ..
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