State-owned mining company, The South African Minerals & Exploration Company, will focus on supplying energy related minerals such as coal, says Mineral Resources Minister Susan Shabangu.
Shabangu said on Wednesday that the company, which was formed in February, had landed a contract to supply national electricity generation company Eskom with coal. The contract should start from the end of June.
When President Jacob Zuma announced the formation of the company he said that it would focus on unspecified strategic minerals.
The company, which is jointly owned by the departments of minerals and energy, would start supplying Eskom with about 800,000 tons of coal from June. Production could be ramped up to 1.68 million tons with a possibility of almost doubling it to three million tons sometime in the future.
Shabangu said that an inter-ministerial task team consisting of representatives of the energy and minerals departments and the company itself would plot the future of the company.
No mention was made of nationalization of the mining sector, a policy that Shabangu has been opposed to. However, other sections of the ruling African National Congress, such as it Youth League president Julius Malema, have been pushing for nationalization of the entire mining sector. - I-Net Bridge