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Mining Weekly reports that the Minerals Council SA (previously called the Chamber of Mines) has sounded the alarm over the threat posed to employment and production in the gold and platinum mining sectors as a result of recently approved electricity tariff increases, including the 13.8% hike to be implemented from 1 April.
The council has also warned that the hikes will accelerate Eskom’s own downward spiral as mines and smelters, which currently consume 30% of the power utility’s yearly production, respond by closing unprofitable operations. The body’s revised estimates point to 90,000 gold and platinum jobs being at risk as a result of the increases, approved by the National Energy Regulator of SA (Nersa) on 7 March. The figure represents a modest improvement on the 150,000 job losses forecast ahead of the regulator’s fourth multiyear price determination (MYPD4) decision. The outlook for the gold-mining sector remains especially dire, with the council indicating that only two mines are likely to remain viable at the end of three years. The hikes would further erode the competitiveness of the SA mining industry relative to global peers, which enjoy lower tariffs and are also less affected by supply interruptions. Some 464,000 people were employed across the local mining industry in 2017 and the council estimated earlier this year that about 18,300 of the 53,500 jobs shed since 2006, when SA’s power crisis emerged, could be directly attributed to electricity tariff increases.
Read the full original of the report in the above regard at Mining Weekly
Read too, Eskom price hike to cost South Africa 90 000 mining jobs, says Minerals Council, at Moneyweb
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page