South Africa's total mining production, including platinum mines, declined by 5.2 per cent between January and February when the power crisis was at its worst.

In January, the production of platinum group metals (pgms) declined by 15.9 per cent, Mining Weekly reports.

Revealing its monthly mining and sales figures, Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) revealed that the production of non-gold metals had declined by 3.2 per cent.

Non-gold minerals output dropped by 4.1 per cent with the drop being attributed to lower platinum group metals, gold and diamond production.

February's lower figures followed January's 10.7 per cent decline in mining output.

While output continued to decline, Stats SA indicated that the value of mineral sales had increased in the three months ending January 2008.

Platinum mines have been forced to cut output after Eskom reduced their electricity supply in January and implemented a period of load shedding.

Source:

Mining output falls after 28.2 per cent drop in gold production
http://www.miningweekly.co.za/article.php?a_id=131027