[miningmx.com] – ROYAL Bafokeng Platinum (RBPlat) said it had lost 154 hours in crusher plant downtime owing to load-shedding by power utility Eskom without negatively impacting production in the first quarter ended March 31.
However, the platinum producer could not discount lower production at further stage 1, 2 and 3 load shedding schedules were applied in the current quarter.
“Given the current Eskom power generation constraints, power management has been a key operational focus to minimise the impact of load shedding on production,” said RBPlat in its first quarter production update in which it reported a 4% decline in platinum group metal production to 63,000 ounces.
“Our operational strategy involves load reduction by restricting metallurgical operations, specifically crushing, to enable underground operations to continue unaffected as and when load curtailment is implemented,” it said.
“To date this strategy has proven successful in managing the intermittent stage 1 and
2 load curtailments which have characterised the quarter,” it said. Load curtailments were implemented 11 times this quarter.
“However should we encounter continuous stage 1, 2 or 3 load curtailments going forward, production could be impacted,” the company said.
