South Africa Can’t Afford to Neglect Energy Needs of Mines

SA is in danger of losing its day job. We’ve moonlighted with manufacturing, but mining still lies at the core of the economy. Now we have electricity cuts that target the mines.

The end of the rolling blackouts makes it easy to forget that the mines are still hurting. Six months ago, Eskom imposed a 10% cut on major users, virtually all of which are mines or smelters. Most mines remain at 90% of their December level, with only a handful allowed up to 95% to avoid major job losses.
The latest gross domestic product (GDP) data show the implications. In the first quarter of the year , mining output dropped by a fifth, despite historically high world prices for metals. As a result, economic growth slowed from more than 5% last year to 2,1% in the first quarter of this year. The data for April report some recovery in mining but the index for output in volume terms remains 5% below last year’s levels. And the level of recovery is exaggerated because April this year included three more working days than the same month last year.

AllAfrica