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Power cut hits harder as mining firm, Anglo American, loses 105,000 ounces of metal

Published

2 years ago

December 9, 2022

The incessant power cut in South Africa has cost mining Anglo American Platinum 105,000 ounces in platinum group metals (PGM) production this year.

Chief executive Natascha Viljoen revealed on Friday that the loss is nearly 3% of the firm’s total refined output.

The state Utility firm, Eskom recently announced: “Stage 6” of power rationing, the worst outage level on record, as its aging fleet of coal-fired power stations continues to suffer breakdowns.

Viljoen said although Eskom had a “load curtailment” arrangement with miners, which seeks to minimise the impact of power cuts, the recent intensification of outages had put a strain on operations.

“The curtailment that we’ve seen over the last number of weeks is more than we have flexibility in the system for and we have seen more impact on the operations,” Viljoen said in a call after the company’s annual production update.

The power challenge has also made Amplats cut its production forecast for 2023 and 2024 due to lower grades at its Mogalakwena operations and lower volumes from Amandelbult, but 2022 output remained within target.

“Unit cost of production in 2022 has been impacted by ongoing inflationary pressure on input costs due to higher diesel, fuel, and consumable prices owing to the effects of COVID-19 on supply chains, import logistics constraints, Eskom load-shedding, as well as lower production,” Amplats said.

Eskom currently has 5487 megawatts (MW) on planned maintenance, while another 14,061 MW of capacity was unavailable due to breakdowns.

The country lately has had challenges with its electricity supply which has forced Eskom to announce the previous series of power rotation arrangements.

Related Topics:Eskom Featured Mining South Africa

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IMF mission concludes 4th loan program assessment in Egypt

Published

7 hours ago

November 22, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

Following the completion of a recent visit to Egypt, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has announced that its mission had achieved significant strides in policy talks aimed at concluding the fourth review of the IMF loan program.

The review is the fourth in Egypt’s most recent 46-month IMF loan program, which was authorised in 2022 and increased to $8 billion this year following an economic crisis characterised by high inflation and chronic foreign exchange shortages. It may unleash more than $1.2 billion in financing.

Along with reaffirming its commitment to maintain a flexible exchange rate system, the IMF stated that Egypt “has implemented key reforms to preserve macroeconomic stability,” including the unification of the currency rate that facilitated imports.

Earlier on Wednesday, Egypt’s Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said Cairo has asked the IMF to modify the targets for the programme not only for this year, but for its full duration, he added without giving more details.

“Discussions will continue over the coming days to finalize agreement on the remaining policies and reforms that could support the completion of the fourth review,” the IMF added in its statement.

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Kenya seeks $750m from World Bank, obtains $200m from AfDB— Official

Published

2 days ago

November 20, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

The head of debt management for the finance ministry told Reuters that Kenya had obtained a $200 million loan from the African Development Bank (AfDB) and was negotiating a fresh $750 million loan with the World Bank.

After being forced to abandon proposed tax rises costing more than 346 billion shillings ($2.68 billion) in June due to fatal demonstrations, the East African nation’s administration, which has been grappling with significant debt, has been frantically seeking fresh funding.

The Finance Ministry’s public debt management office director general, Raphael Owino, told Reuters that the IMF’s October clearance of the seventh and eighth reviews, which opened the door for a $606 million loan tranche, had aided the ministry’s talks for more loans.

“The World Bank is coming on board, riding on the back of IMF receipts,” Owino said. “The AfDB is already on board.”

The discussions for more assistance, which came under the World Bank’s “Development Policy Operations” (DPO) with the government, were confirmed by a representative at the organization’s Kenya office.

“The amount of the current (loan) is yet to be determined. The amount will also depend on the implementation of the policy reforms agreed upon,” the spokesperson told Reuters, adding that past DPO loans averaged about $750 million.

In May, the World Bank approved the latest round of DPO loans, totalling $1.2 billion.

According to a statement made last month by Finance Minister John Mbadi, Kenya has set a foreign borrowing goal of 168 billion shillings for the fiscal year ending in June 2025.