[miningmx.com] – SOUTH Africa could not afford the cost of coal charged by some mining companies, said Brian Molefe, CEO of Eskom, in an interview with Bloomberg News.
“We are under pressure,” Molefe told the newswire. “On the one hand certain mining companies want to keep us paying exorbitant amounts of money for coal and we need to cut our costs. When we ask for increases in electricity pricing, then the same people are also unhappy,” he said.
Molefe was responding to criticism that Eskom was buying coal from Optimum Coal for its Arnot power station having seen Arnot mine closed by operator, Exxaro Resources, and knowing that Optimum Coal had been sold by Glencore to the Gupta family which are business associates for President Jacob Zuma.
Coal from Optimum is being sold to Arnot power station for R150 per tonne which compares to the R190/t Exxaro was charging for its nearby Arnot coal.
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