South Africa's second-largest gold producer, Gold Fields, has announced that output from its mines will plunge heavily this quarter as nationwide power shortages threaten to close shafts.
Electricity supplies to the company's South African mines will be limited, while output - accounting for two-thirds of its global production - will fall by 20 to 25 percent this quarter, Gold Fields told Bloomberg.
Mine shaft closures and "restructuring" may be necessary.
Meanwhile in an announcement on its website today, the company says it is "disappointed" that energy utility Eskom has temporarily withdrawn a licence to increase electricity load from 80 percent to 90 percent by this evening to "protect further frequency decay and system instability".
To comply with this instruction, and in the interest of safety, production is being pulled back to operate at 80 percent, the company says.
Power is being restored to all South African mines this week following last week’s power shortages when Eskom could not guarantee adequate supply.
By Ozge Ibrahim
