Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe is convinced that mining companies can supplement State-owned Eskom’s supply of electricity, and that this would be critical for narrowing the electricity supply and demand gap, thereby improving South Africa’s mining industry global ranking, which was in the bottom quartile on both investment attractiveness and policy perception indexes by research organisation Fraser Institute’s 2022 survey of mining companies. “A success story is registered in the performance of Gold Fields, which registered a 10% production growth despite the 9% decline year-on-year in the sectors’ overall production. This is because they completed their 50 MW plant, which is giving them enough energy and registered some surplus. Therefore, the industry’s investment in expanding its own electricity capacity to power its operations gives us hope,” Mantashe said at the Minerals Council South Africa’s 133rd annual general meeting, in Johannesburg, on May 31.
