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Eskom was not honest about seriousness of situation - Graham Briggs, CEO, Harmony In an interview on Radio 2000 @ 18:00 on Friday, January 25 2008 [miningmx.com] -- SOUTH African government-owned power utility, Eskom, had not been honest about the seriousness of potential power outages, said Harmony Gold CEO, Graham Briggs. “I think it (shortage) has been happening all the time and Eskom was probably not as honest as it should have been about the situation,” said Briggs. He added: “We've got all the costs right now, and we're not producing any gold, so we lose a serious amount of money, in the order of probably R60m a day". "It is extremely serious.” Briggs comments come after Eskom, on January 25, informed South African mining companies that it could not guarantee electricity supply at their mines, forcing most gold and platinum producers to shut down operations. Speaking on the Moneyweb Power Hour, a week-nightly radio broadcast, Briggs said the mining industry was one of the core industries that had not suffered from electricity supply issues. “We have reduced electricity consumption, but we've never before been given an indication like this: that there cannot be any guarantee of supply,” said Briggs. Briggs said if the current situation continued Harmony Gold could be forced to cut jobs. ”The impact, unless there is some great communication coming out of Eskom, which is not happening right now." "Unless we get some better guidance, we're going to have to make some serious decisions. And that could eventuate in some job cuts, for sure,” he said.
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