By James Macharia
The power crisis in South Africa has forced miners to partially close mines, curbed output and put jobs at risk, triggering threats of street protests by unions in the world's top precious metals producer.
South Africa's key mining industry, a big foreign exchange earner and job creator, ground to a halt for five days last month as an electricity shortage became a national emergency.
Since then, miners have operated with 90 percent of the electricity they would normally need, hurting production and helping send metal prices to record highs.
Gold Fields, the world's fourth-largest gold miner, plans to scale back production at lower grade mines and possibly cut 6 900 jobs, or 13 percent, of its 53 000-strong workforce.
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"The inability of Eskom to supply the mines their full power requirements has caused a significant crisis in the South African mining industry," said Terence Goodlace, the company's head of South African operations.
"It is paradoxical that we have to consider downscaling in the current record-high gold price environment," he said.
Gold rose on Monday as high as $951.90, just below a recent historic high on investor buying, before paring gains.
Gold Fields said output at its South African mines would fall by up to 25 percent in the quarter to end-March, and by up to 20 percent in the fourth quarter onwards.
Unions reacted angrily to the job-cut threats.
"The NUM will take to the streets if companies carry out their retrenchments threats. It is not our members who brought about the electricity crisis," said Lesiba Seshoka, spokesperson for the National Union of Mineworkers.
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