The Head of Investor Relations at Sibanye Stillwater, James Wellsted, says although the mining company has put in place plans to manage the effects of load-shedding they are still concerned that things might escalate. He says since Eskom announced load-shedding in the country they had to adjust and put plans in place to avoid a serious impact on their production. 

The concern comes as Eskom continues to implement stage 2-6 load-shedding on a rotational basis across the country with economists warning about the potential impact this will have on the country's economy. Wellsted says the company continues to engage with the power utility.

"The load-shedding from Eskom has continued over an extended period now and seems to be getting progressively worse rather than better and as energy-intensive users, we have got protocols in place that we have pre-agreed with Eskom to support them through periods of high demand and when their reserves are low. So we will reschedule our energy-intensive activities to reduce our load when required," he adds.

He says they have now stopped pumping water from their deep mine and only allow their reservoir to fill up and only use the deep mine water in the morning when demand is much lower.

The impact on our operation has been managed and it has no notable impact on our production but, as the situation continues and potentially escalates, the risk of significant disruption increases and we will be affected more," Wellsted adds.

Eskom will this week implement stages 2 to 4 on a rotational basis until 8 July 2022.

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