Power crisis halts S African gold production

Three of South Africa's biggest gold producers said Friday they have suspended production because of the country's electricity crisis.
Gold Fields, Harmony and AngoGold Ashanti said in separate statements they had taken the move after being notified by the energy utility Eskom that it could not guarantee power supplies at their mines.
Gold Fields, which produces around 7,000 ounces of gold a day in South Africa, said it had taken the decision after being asked by Eskom to "reduce its consumption to the minimum load possible".
"This will have a serious effect on the South African operations and will negatively affect our gold production," chief executive Ian Cockerill said in a statement.
"We are looking at ways to continue operations and will work closely with Eskom to try and resolve this problem."
A spokeswoman for Harmony, which operates 22 gold mines, said that its miners had been sent home after Eskom had told the company "they could not guarantee today's power supply".
"They did not say how long that situation would last but based on that information, we then cancelled our morning and afternoon shifts while the night shift is only on standby," spokeswoman Amelia Soares told AFP.
AngoGold Ashanti meanwhile said it was now only carrying out emergency pumping work after heavy rains.
"Following notification from Eskom regarding interruptions to power supplies, AngoGold Ashanti has halted mining and gold recovery operations on all of its South African operations," it said in a statement.