Harare – The Zimbabwean power utility, Zesa, has refused
to lower tariffs for chrome miners, shutting the door on other companies that
expected a reduction, despite pleas from the mining ministry.
The state company turned down the proposals this week,
saying that chrome miners would pay a tariff of about 6.7 cents per kilowatt
hour.
The miners, which are locked in wage negotiations,
described the tariff as excessive. “Electricity costs have been a drain. It is
the major cost component and employees are pushing for a salary rise, which
will further strain operations,” a mining executive said.
Munyaradzi Dube, the managing director for ferrochrome
producer ZimAlloys, said on Tuesday that the reduction would have brought
tariffs in line with those in South Africa, a rival producer. Dube said
Zimbabwean chrome miners would press ahead for the tariff reduction of between
40 and 50 percent.
The miners are crucial in the country’s economic value
chain, because they help Zesa with foreign currency to import electricity from
South Africa and Mozambique. Despite this, their requests for a reduction were
turned down. The government, through the energy sector regulator, has also
turned down an application by Zesa.
Metallon Corporation, a major gold producer, said on
Monday that it had missed its 2016 production target by about 2 percent, partly
because of power-supply constraints during the year.
The bullion producer, which produced about 94 200 ounces
in 2016, said “power supply interruptions affect all operations, especially at
[the flagship] Redwing Mine”.
However, Metallon has projected that new processing
plants and other projects would bring production back to about 115 000 ounces
of gold.
Mining companies in Zimbabwe “ including Anglo Platinum,
Impala Platinum, Sibanye Gold and Metallon“ are Zimbabwe’s major export
earners.
There was no immediate comment from Zesa.
Power-supply constraints have disrupted production, and
the refusal by the power utility to lower tariffs is set further to stretch the
miners’ financial position, which is already under pressure because of the
liquidity crunch in the country.
Mineworkers at the Freda Rebecca gold mine in Bindura in
Mashonaland Central. The rejection of a request by ferrochrome miners in
Zimbabwe for a reduction in electricity tariffs has shut the door on a similar
concession being granted to other companies, including gold miners.