How South African mines deal with power outages
South African utility Eskom completed its biggest power outage in years for homes and businesses last week, triggering memories of the 2008 crisis, when the power grid nearly collapsed and left the mining industry with billions of lost products.
While Eskom, which provides nearly 90 percent of the electricity in Africa's most industrialized economy, suspended power outages for the first time in five days on Friday, the company warned that dilapidated infrastructure could fail at any time.
According to analysts, South African mines today appear to be better equipped to deal with planned power outages, thanks in large part to a 2010 agreement between Eskom and the mining industry that allows it to continue operating at reduced capacity and partially protected miners from large-scale disruptions.
Under this scheme, Eskom notifies the industry of a 15–20 percent reduction in energy consumption when the national grid is at its most stressed and unable to meet demand.
Despite these measures, executives of the largest mining companies remain concerned about the risks Eskom poses to the industry.
Miners including Impala Platinum, Harmony, Sibanye-Stillwater and others are working to reduce their dependence on Eskom by building their own power generators. However, their attempts to generate electricity independently face bureaucratic hurdles and excessive costs.