S. African economist warns negative consequences of load shedding

Source: Xinhua| 2019-12-10 22:26:43|Editor: xuxin
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JOHANNNESBURG, Dec. 10 (Xinhua) -- The load shedding currently underway in South Africa by the country's power utility Eskom has resulted 14 cents loss in the value of the South African currency (rand) against the U.S. dollar and will reduce production in the mining sector, said the Rand Merchant Bank (RMB) on Tuesday.

"Some mining operations took the unprecedented step of canceling their night shift on Monday, a full shift's worth of production lost, which not only means that mining production will take a hit, but it could also negatively impact employment in the industry, especially should stage 4 and above load-shedding continue," said RMB economist Siobhan Redford.

The gold mining company Harmony Gold said they have called off its underground shifts owing to continued load shedding. The company said Eskom sent a notice on Monday requesting them to reduce their power consumption.

Harmony Gold said on Monday their night shifts employees did not go underground due to load shedding. They said on Tuesday their employees will stay on the surface for safety reasons because of load shedding.

Harmony Gold CEO Peter Steenkamp said that "we will resume shifts as soon as Eskom is able to provide us with the assurance that power supply will be more reliable."

Another diamond mining company Petra said they also received notifications from Eskom to reduce the power consumptions to essential levels.

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